BOOKS THREAD

That would be because he is.

You have to understand that the notion of a "presidential historian" is a very postmodern idea. It's an appendage of the TV age. Why does NBC News need a "presidential historian," much less one whose advanced degree is in business like Beschloss?

He's a camera-friendly political celebrity and a commentator at best. The real "presidential historians" aren't doing their field work in television studios.

 

I just flew through "Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper" by Stephen Dubner (of Freakonomics fame). It's about his childhood love of Franco Harris and meeting him, for the purpose of a book, in adulthood. Great memoirish stuff.

 

LJB --
Think of how much face time Neustadt would've gotten if he'd been writing today.

 

I'm reading "Charity Girl" by Michael Lowenthal. Loving it. Set during WWI times when girls/women were rounded up and put in homes to stop the spread of "social diseases."

Follows 17-year-old Frieda Mintz. It's really good.

 

I'm reading "What is the What" by Dave Eggers. Anybody else read this?

 

I did. Would you like to hear my review?

 

I've been on a John Irving kick lately. I'm sure most of you have read a good deal of his work, but he's great to go back to, his characters are so damn indelible.

 

Yes. Unlike Mr. Major Network Presidential Historian, he was an entrenched member of the academic guild, and eminently respected within and without.

People want to make this about territoriality. It's not. It's a issue of really knowing your shit or not knowing it, and Beschloss doesn't know it well enough to warrant the fuss.

 

Where do you stand on young Brinkley?

 

He's a rare bird among social historians and believes in its vitality, and the academy holds that so dear they'll excuse some of his occasional excesses. There's a little bit of Schlesinger and a whole lot of Kerouac in The Majic Bus -- it shows what Brinkley's really all about and his approach to history. He uniquely connects with his students, the Xers and the old beatniks, and that's a tough crowd to please collectively.

 

I've just been advised NOT to pick up a copy of "Breaker Boys", the story about the 1925 Pottsville Maroons and their alleged "stolen" NFL championship. Anyone else give it a read yet? (Didn't pop up on a search.)

For the record, I'm more inclined to believe the work Joe Horrigan, Bob Braunwart, and Bob Carroll did on the subject for the PFRA than a book published by ESPN...

 

FWIW, I thought "The Majic Bus" was silly, with Brinkley striving to appear hip to a bunch of college kids.