Stan Lee, Marvel Comics
Stan Lee single-handedly changed the concept of “superhero,” and in so doing changed modern American culture. Lee, who cut his teeth writing Captain America comics in the 1940s, created (or co-created)...
View ArticleEdward Hopper, Artist
One of the greatest American artists of the twentieth century, Edward Hopper is also one of the least appreciated, at least by the public. The art community has long recognized the man’s unique vision...
View ArticleMy Fair Lady, Play and Film
George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion in 1912, but refused to allow it to be converted into a musical during his lifetime. Curmudgeon. So shortly after he died in 1950, the creative team of Alan Jay...
View ArticleSouth Pacific, Musical
When James Michener wrote his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Tales of the South Pacific, I can’t imagine he thought it would be turned into a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that would win its own...
View ArticleLawrence Block
This is a very personal choice, because most Americans don’t know who Lawrence Block is. Even among those who are diligent readers, he’s not especially well known. But of all the mystery and crime...
View ArticleThe Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
“Philip Marlowe here. This book was my first appearance in print. Of course, I’d been solving crimes in L.A. for years when this Raymond Chandler fellow thought me worthy of my own novel. Seems like...
View ArticleNational Gallery of Art
It’s impressive what one man with a vision – and lots and lots of money – can accomplish. Andrew W. Mellon loved art, especially the old masters, and amassed quite a collection in the early decades of...
View ArticleCormac McCarthy
Most writers would love to have just one book recognized as being among the best novels of its time. Cormac McCarthy has four. Blood Meridian (1985) made Time’s list of the best 100 English-language...
View ArticleGuys and Dolls
First of all, it has some of the best names in the history of American musical theater, including Sky Masterson, Nathan Detroit, and the best of all — Nicely-Nicely Johnson. And it has the music of the...
View ArticleJohn Grisham
John Grisham suffers the fate of many popular artists – the cultural snobs condescend because surely something so attractive to the masses can’t have artistic merit. But folks, Proust never wrote a...
View ArticleHamilton: An American Musical
Have you ever thought, “I’m going to sit down at the old piano and compose a musical. I’ll make it about a historical figure from 200 years ago that people are only vaguely familiar with. I’ll have all...
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