Author Archives: David Blake

  “Ye have not a whole body, sir; do ye but use poor me for your one lost leg; only tread upon me, sir; I ask no more, so I remain a part of ye.” — Pip, Chapter 129, “The … Continue reading →

2019 marks the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth. Around the world, people have celebrated Leaves of Grass, gathering in Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta, Bolton, England, and countless other places to recognize Whitman’s poetry and democratic vision. “It avails not, time … Continue reading →

In 2015, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded me an Enduring Questions grant to develop a new course at The College of New Jersey on the meaning of fame from Antiquity to the Enlightenment.  In my previous research and teaching, I had always … Continue reading →

This weekend we celebrate the 160th anniversary of Herman Melville’s troubling novel The Confidence-Man; His Masquerade. Published on what was then called April Fool Day, the novel features a series of confidence tricks performed on a Mississippi River boat, named … Continue reading →

Thanks very much to the Association of American Publishers for giving its 2017 PROSE Award in Media & Cultural Studies to Liking Ike: Eisenhower, Advertising, and the Rise of Celebrity Politics. According to the AAP website, the PROSE Awards, “annually recognize … Continue reading →

Today marks the 60th anniversary of Ike Day, the star-studded celebration of President Eisenhower’s 66th birthday that was held in the midst of his re-election campaign.   Over ten years ago, I heard about this forgotten moment in American political history … Continue reading →

Well . . . not exactly, but on the eve of its publication, Marshal Zeringue invited me to “dreamcast” a Liking Ike film for his terrific site Campaign for the American Reader. From the post: Liking Ike centers on the personalities who … Continue reading →

The Eisenhower Memorial Commission has recently released its latest “Pivotal Moment,” part of the E-memorial that will be included in its four-acre urban park at the base of Capitol Hill.  Titled “Winning the Presidency,” this seven-minute documentary is narrated by Tom Brokaw and … Continue reading →

Thanks to The National Memo for selecting an excerpt from my new book, Liking Ike, for its Weekend Reader. From the introduction: A reality star is now a major party presidential candidate, but it turns out, celebrity politics are not … Continue reading →

The astounding success of Hamilton, its capacity to engage audiences from third graders to the president and first lady, reminds us that Broadway musicals have a healthy tradition of mining political history. From 1776 to Evita, songwriters have been fascinated … Continue reading →