Michener’s history

… The historical novels of James A. Michener, ranging in subject matter from the origins of Judaism ( The Source ) to the birth and growth of a small Colorado town ( Centennial ), have been one of the major publishing phenomena of the twentieth century. In a graceful and reflective essay, the author talks about the wedding of history and fiction. “Each generation,” he tells us, “deserves its own historical novels, because each will have its own interpretations of what has gone before.”

Lincoln’s kidnaping

… The President was dead and buried, but there were those who would not let him rest in peace. Deane and Peggy Robertson narrate the extraordinary tale of the 1876 plot to kidnap Lincoln’s body and hold it for ransom.

Mrs. Webb’s dream

… “I look for the art in folk art,” Electra Havemeyer Webb once said, and in her search she gathered in a splendidly eclectic assortment of things that demonstrated the universal need for a measure of beauty in ordinary life. It all came together in Vermont’s Shelburne Museum, which author Walter Karp characterizes as one of the most amiable historical institutions in the country.

Fitz Guerin’s vision

… St. Louis photographer Fitz Guerin was typical of his kind at the turn of the century: a competent craftsman who specialized in portraits. But he had his odd moments. Very odd. In a special portfolio, we present a selection of some of his strangest creations—of which the lovely disembodied head below is one of the milder.

Plus

… Balloon bombs and bat bombs of World War II; Tom Fleming on Bernardo de Galvez and the last expression of Spanish empire in North America; and much more, all of it richly illustrated.