Teacher and Author
“Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden.” This would not have … Continued
If Rose pushed Laura to allow the “fictional truth” to rise above mere historical fact, where do we see the mother heeding the daughter’s advice? Where do we see evidence of Rose’s storytelling expertise influencing Laura? I have looked at … Continued
“You will just have to take my word for it,” Rose Wilder Lane advised her now much more famous mother. There was “historical truth” and “fictional truth,” and she must learn to put her trust in the latter. Rose must … Continued
In late summer, 1926, the North Atlantic world was struck by Channel-crossing Fever. Five hearty souls had already swum the waterway dividing England and France, beginning as far back as 1875, so what was all the fuss? For starters, three … Continued
British Volunteer Aid Nurse Vera Brittain left No. 24 General Hospital in Étaples in time to escape the bombings of May 30 [see “Etaples Hospital Air Raid;” May 30, 2018] but not so soon that she missed the arrival of … Continued
The first edition of The Chicago Defender, a run of three hundred papers, went on sale May 5, 1905. For two cents, readers received six columns of text on four full pages. It was a humble beginning for one … Continued
I grew up convinced I would die in the jungles of Vietnam. I needn’t have worried. My birth had come almost a full decade too late. My worries weren’t constant, in any case. Most of the time I was too … Continued
Juba! by Walter Dean Myers is historical fiction with a strong emphasis on the history. The title character actually existed. The events in the book are documented. Fourteen archival images grace the pages, including map, photo, and engraving; portraits, posters, … Continued
If Laura is the author and protagonist of the Little House books, Pa is her muse and the series’ catalyst. His wanderlust drives the Ingalls ever onward (if not precisely westward) in search of unspoiled land. He sets the overarching … Continued
Millions of British troops passed through the French coastal town of Étaples, France, on their way to the Western Front. The training camps housed as many as 100,000 troops at a time. Many thousands of British and Empire wounded returned … Continued