Interviews with Pat Buchanan, Stephen Falk

I have two new interviews out this week for Salon, and they could not be more different (other than both being about writers): * I talk here to conservative opinion-maker Pat Buchanan about his new book The Greatest Comeback, which is about the years he spent helping Richard Nixon rise from back-to-back races for the presidency (1960) and […]

An interview with Bruce Murphy on his new biography, ‘Scalia’

Earlier this week, Kirkus Reviews published an abbreviated version of my interview with Bruce Allen Murphy about his new biography, Scalia: A Court of One. In this longer version of the interview, Murphy and I discuss Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s background, legal writing, and judicial philosophy. Let’s start with the basics of originalism vs. textualism. […]

A new (old) perspective on the Second Amendment

“If you read James Madison’s notes from the Constitutional Convention and the Constitution itself, the Founders were very focused on the states keeping strong militias—who would lead the militias, how would they be armed, could the federal government take them over—and above all, they did not want a standing army. They thought a standing army […]

Cass Sunstein on foxes, hedgehogs, Glenn Beck and Santa Claus

Head over to Kirkus Reviews for my interview with Harvard professor Cass Sunstein about his new book, Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas. Sunstein explains — among other things — why Team Romney was surprised he lost the 2012 election. This is my first piece for Kirkus Reviews.

Why readers love big bios

This is an excerpt of my recent Salon.com article about definitive biographies. Steve Jobs didn’t spend his life punching a clock; he was the creative force behind Pixar Animation, the Macintosh computer and the iPhone. His story and Walter Isaacson’s deft retelling of it were the reasons his Steve Jobs, published in 2011, has been a […]

JFK Transformed

This piece originally appeared in my column for Huffington Post on October 27, 2013. On the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, with bookstore shelves overflowing with reexaminations and conspiracy theories, John T. Shaw takes a look at an important but under-reported period of President Kennedy’s life in JFK in the Senate: Pathway to the Presidency. Shaw, a […]

‘Letters of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.’

Andrew and Stephen C. Schlesinger discuss The Letters of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a collection of their father’s letters to Harry Truman, Robert Kennedy and others, in a recent appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Here’s a summary of the book: The Letters of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. reveals the late historian’s unvarnished views on the great issues and […]

‘Wilson,’ Obama and Congress

This piece originally appeared in my column for Huffington Post on October 10, 2013. Here’s one tried and tested way for a president to deal with a difficult Congress: Go to your private office on Capitol Hill and stay there until a deal is done. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, lobbied Congress from […]

Interviews: Kevin Williamson, Jonathan Alter

Kevin Williamson of National Review discussing his new book, The End Is Near and It’s Going to Be Awesome, at the Cato Institute: Bloomberg View‘s Jonathan Alter on NPR’s Fresh Air and Charlie Rose discussing his new book, The Center Holds:

Linda Obst on Hollywood’s ‘New Abnormal’

This piece originally appeared in my column for Huffington Post on June 18, 2013. Film producer Lynda Obst’s career has had more twists and turns than a big-budget action movie — which is not the sort of movie she makes. (Not yet anyway, but more on that later.) Obst started her career as associate producer on Flashdance […]