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. ”