Howard Zinn: Looking at history from the ground up

Above: Howard during his tenure as an Air Force pilot during World War II The controversial historian and Brooklyn native Howard Zinn, champion of the proletariat in writings like his A People’s History of the United States, died yesterday at age 87. His People’s History is a classic of what was formerly considered underground history,… Read More

100 Years Ago: Celebrity writer drinks himself to death

O. Henry in 1909. He may even be drunk here. New York City has a fine, macabre tradition of harboring famous artists, writers, musicians and actors on the cusp of an alcohol or drug-fueled demise. The city naturally attracts the creative, oddballs and innovators looking for like minds amid the flourishing artistic communities of the… Read More

Happy birthday F Scott Fitzgerald!

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald with wife Zelda, from 1921 “I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the… Read More