Writing Is Hubris Part 4: A Simple Twist of Fate All through this education, the Civil War was not far from my mind, for which I have maintained a continuing interest. We made day trips to Gettysburg, Antietam, and Harpers Ferry. The latter may be best known for the John Brown raid of 1859 (Harpers […]
Writing Is Hubris Part 3: With Hammer in Hand I undertook an informal course of reading to learn about the history and chemistry of black powder and the history and operation of machine tools, water wheels, water turbines and steam engines, almost anything I could lay my hands on concerning nineteenth century industry. Winterthur was […]
Writing Is Hubris Part 2: Manhattan Transfer (to Delaware?) After graduation I married while unemployed, then got work as a junior associate in the corporate securities department of a very large law firm in midtown Manhattan. There, over the years, I drafted and edited prospectuses for junk bonds and tender offer documents. When the economy […]
Writing Is Hubris Part 1: “No man but a blockhead …” The hubris of writing is the expectation that a complete stranger will be engaged by something that you have written. If writing is an act of hubris, then writing about the American Civil War is an act of hubris raised to the umpteenth power. […]