Fred Kaplan

Words about Lincoln fill a small but ever-growing library.

With all due respect to re-enactors, I consider the Civil War too tragic a subject to make a game of.

The challenge of a president himself struggling to find the conjunction between the right words and honest expression, a use of language that respects intellect, truth, and sincerity, has largely been abandoned.

Political history is not the only way to approach historical figures.

Lincoln is a genius of language and a brilliant writer who deserves to be seen as part of the canon of great writers in American literature.

Reading Edmund Morris's 'Colonel Roosevelt' is a rewarding journey, as it must also have been for its author, who concludes his three-volume saga begun in 1980 with publication of 'The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.'

Is there really any relationship between artists' personal conduct and their art? Certainly not.

Can a great artist be mean-spirited, grasping, harsh to his family, violent in his emotions, vindictive in his hatreds, an all-purpose scoundrel? If our test cases are the likes of Wagner, Picasso, and, let me say, Dickens, the answer is a resounding yes.

Colonel Roosevelt' is compelling reading, and Morris a brilliant biographer who practices his art at the highest level.

In his life, Charles Dickens was like the rest of us, but maybe more so: another poor and wonderful soul attempting to deal with his and the world's pain and confusion in the best way he knew how.

Myth and mythology often serve constructive and aspirational purposes. But they also do harm.

Obama is a very fine writer with an excellent command of language. His memoir 'Dreams From My Father' is a fine book, but it will not rank as one of the great autobiographies.