It should be quite clear that it is possible for unpleasant people who are small in various ways other than in their artistic genius to produce great art. Art and morality have no necessary connection. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
To give credit to Lincoln for moral progression seems beyond the facts and unnecessary for our appreciation of this arguably greatest of all American… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
I'm not a Lincoln expert, rather a biographer who has had the pleasure of reading much of what has been written about him from… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
Myth and mythology often serve constructive and aspirational purposes. But they also do harm. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
I first wrote a biography of Thomas Carlyle, and it turned out I loved writing biographies and had a talent for it. I believed… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
“The New START accord cuts the strategic nuclear arsenals on each side to 1,550 warheads. Can any of its critics make a case that… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
Is there really any relationship between artists' personal conduct and their art? Certainly not. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
Gore Vidal was a man of immense literary talent, some of which he used well, some of which he wasted. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
“He had entered another imaginative world, one connected to the beginning of his life as a writer, to the Napoleonic world that had been… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
Obama is a very fine writer with an excellent command of language. His memoir 'Dreams From My Father' is a fine book, but it… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
“As became a young sinner, Sam [Mark Twain] had a special interest in Satan. He asked his Sunday school teacher questions about Eve in… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
'Colonel Roosevelt' is compelling reading, and Morris a brilliant biographer who practices his art at the highest level. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
Can a great artist be mean-spirited, grasping, harsh to his family, violent in his emotions, vindictive in his hatreds, an all-purpose scoundrel? If our… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
I want to contribute to the culture and keep great writers alive by telling the stories of their lives. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share
