I recently read an essay by Mark Twain in which he recounted how a certain magazine had asked several prominent writers of the day,...

I once asked my father how he got started as a brick mason. He responded by telling me the whole story, one I had never heard until that...

Nestled high up in the woods of Mountain City, Georgia, about two miles above Clayton, is a treasure in the preservation of American...

As I'm writing this installment of my blog, it's Independence Day, July 4. Although this article will not be posted until three days...

Back in the days when I taught, working hard to motivate junior high school students to get interested in (dare I say excited about?)...

No journey I take is ever "normal" or uneventful. That certainly was the case with our most recent road trip to visit family in Michigan...

While looking for a specific source work in the library the other day, I had one of those serendipitous moments of unexpected discovery:...

The best history books or programs make one feel as though he or she is not merely reading about or looking in a rearview mirror at an...

Amazingly, one can grow up in a specific location and become a part of it and yet know little about some of its most amazing history. For...

My wife recently got the sudden urge to clean out our attic. I helped her most by staying out of her way. After all, there was hardly...

The other day, my wife declared that it was time for her to plant her sweet potatoes. For some reason that I can't explain, my mind...

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been reading volume 7 of Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church and learning to...

Although my first love in sports was always baseball, I was never able to play organized ball. The closest I got was playing cow-pasture...

Among the various subjects about which I enjoy reading is the lives of famous writers. Every such biography I read always gives me some...

All writers, if they expect to sell their work, should engage in periodic market watching. Too often, however, we get so busy...

Two events happened recently and set me to thinking simultaneously about both my experiences as a teacher and research historian as well...

Just learned that my book Dillon's War is beginning the editing phase with TouchPoint Press editor Kimberly Coghlan. Hoping for a release...

Thomas Wolfe famously titled one of his works You Can't Go Home Again. That's true in so many ways, and it was brought to my mind...

I recently shared some of the following thoughts with an assembly of junior high and high school students. Perhaps you'll find them...

The other day, I came across some statistics that, to me, are quite alarming. I wonder if anyone else finds them similarly alarming....