This Saturday, millions of Americans will watch the annual spectacle of Charlton Heston acting the part of a Cold War hero in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments." The TV air date is no accident. This week, beginning with Passover and ending with Easter, is...
Passover is the national holiday of my in-laws. Every spring, my mother-in-law hosts 35 people on one night, and a different 35 people the second night for a ritualized retelling of the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt. But the centrality of this...
The Atlanta History Center has posted a video of my talk about AMERICA'S PROPHET. It lasts about an hour....
THIS WEEK IN MOSES: Gays in the military. In Ted Kennedy's new memoir, being published today, the Senator describes his first meeting with Bill Clinton in the White House. The new president had stumbled into a firestorm about gays in the military and invited...
THIS WEEK IN MOSES: The Kennedys and the Promised Land. In The Making of the President 1964, Theodore White compared the death of John F. Kennedy to the death of Moses on Mount Nebo. Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery into freedom,...
THIS WEEK IN MOSES: Harry and Louise meet Moses. In a conversation with religious leaders last week, Barack Obama hit back against some of the more outlandish attacks against his health care proposals. Responding to rumors of “death panels” that would “decide whether...
Moses has finally made it to the White House. On August 15, 1620 – nearly 400 years ago this week – the Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower from Southhampton with 102 passengers on board. Their leader, John Robinson, described them as the chosen people,...