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I’m participating in only a couple of reading challenges this year, and the one I’m most enjoying so far is the U.S. Presidents Reading Project. I have a goal of reading one biography of a president per month, and I’m on target, having finished a biography of Washington and having ...

Here are 16 things you may not know about Abraham -- he had no middle name -- Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. When Lincoln was 9, he was kicked in the head by a horse, knocking him out for hours. Lincoln's father, Thomas, earned 4 cents an hour in 1805 catching and whipping recalci...

I’m working on an assigned booklist, readers if you will, for a class that will be taught to sixth graders next year in our homeschool co-op. The class is supposed to incorporate literature and Texas history. So, I’ve been reading books about Texas: historical fiction, biographies, memoi...

My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition. F...

She unwrapped an unwieldy bundle, covered with newspapers. Out of it fell a giant tumble weed, its spiny leaves dried on its skeleton stalk; its bushy top mounted on a trunk made of a broomstick. “Do you think that would do fer a Christmas tree?” she asked. Becky looked at the dry bush w...

“In 1902 an Act of Congress officially opened for land claims what had previously been the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. One fellow, upon hearing the news, immediately rushed there to stake his claims on December 25, Christmas Day. He then rapidly rode on horseback to file them the nex...

“The attack was set for Christmas night, December 25-26, when most of the Hessians would be drunk or exhausted from the day’s celebrations. About twenty-four hundred Continentals began marching toward the Pennsylvania side of McKonkey’s Ferry several miles upstream from Trenton lat...

Hello, Chicago. If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. It’s the answer told by lines that s...

Barack Obama’s gaffe on Pearl Harbor is just the beginning (and you think that a native Hawaiian would know better). I don’t know about you, but I’m not looking forward to the Second Coming of Jimmy Carter....