Category Archives: History

BOOK EXCERPT: Craig Brown / “J.D. Salinger’s Letter To Ernest Hemingway”

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The following is an excerpt from “Hello Goodbye Hello” [Simon & Schuster,26.95]:

J.D. Salinger seeks out Ernest Hemingway The Ritz Hotel, 15 place Vendôme, Paris Late August 1944.

The twenty-five-year-old Jerry Salinger is experiencing a terrible war. Of the 3,080 men of the 12th US Infantry who disembarked with him at Normandy on D-Day, only a third are still alive.

His regiment is the first to enter Paris. They are mobbed by happy crowds. Salinger’s job as an officer in the Counter-Intelligence Corps entails weeding out and interrogating Nazi collaborators. As they go through Paris, he and a fellow officer arrest a collaborator, but a crowd wrests their prisoner away and beats him to death.

Salinger has heard that Ernest Hemingway is in town. A writer himself, with a growing reputation for his short stories, he is determined to seek out America’s most famous living novelist. He feels sure he will find him at the Ritz, so he drives the jeep there. Sure enough, Hemingway is installed in the small bar, already bragging that he alone liberated Paris in general and the Ritz in particular.

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IN MEMORIAM: Mr Fish / “Rest in Peace, Dear Gore”

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Cartoon credit: Mr Fish

IN MEMORIAM: Gore Vidal / “Gore Vidal, American Writer And Cultural Critic, Dies” / (AUDIO)

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Gore Vidal came from a generation of novelists whose fiction gave them a political platform. Norman Mailer ran for mayor of New York City; Kurt Vonnegut became an anti-war spokesman. And Vidal was an all-around critic. His novels sometimes infuriated readers with unflattering portraits of American history.

He also wrote essays and screenplays, and his play The Best Man currently has a revival on Broadway.

Vidal died Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills, from complications of pneumonia. He was 86 years old.

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IN MEMORIAM: Sally Ride / “R.I.P Sally Ride, First [American] Woman (and Lesbian) In Space”

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Yesterday America lost one of its most recognizable space pioneers, Dr. Sally Ride, who not only was the first American woman in space, but spent her life advocating for women’s greater involvement in science and engineering.

Here’s her official obituary:

Sally Ride died peacefully on July 23rd, 2012 after a courageous 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Sally lived her life to the fullest, with boundless energy, curiosity, intelligence, passion, joy, and love. Her integrity was absolute; her spirit was immeasurable; her approach to life was fearless.

Sally was a physicist, the first American woman to fly in space, a science writer, and the president and CEO of Sally Ride Science. She had the rare ability to understand the essence of things and to inspire those around her to join her pursuits.

Sally’s historic flight into space captured the nation’s imagination and made her a household name. She became a symbol of the ability of women to break barriers and a hero to generations of adventurous young girls. After retiring from NASA, Sally used her high profile to champion a cause she believed in passionately—inspiring young people, especially girls, to stick with their interest in science, to become scientifically literate, and to consider pursuing careers in science and engineering.

In addition to Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, Sally is survived by her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin, and nephew, Whitney; her staff of 40 at Sally Ride Science; and many friends and colleagues around the country.

This statement about her partner told the public what they hadn’t known before–Ride was in a same-sex relationship. “I hope it makes it easier for kids growing up gay that they know that another one of their heroes was like them,” her sister Bear Ride told Buzzfeed. We still have a ways to go, though. Because of DOMA, however, her partner will not receive federal benefits.

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