I got to know Gore Vidal quite well, up front and personal: his magnificent strengths and his appalling, almost other-worldly weaknesses. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
Lincoln is distinguished from every other president, with the exception of Jefferson, in that we can be certain that he wrote every… — 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 Image
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 Image
Myth and mythology often serve constructive and aspirational purposes. But they also do harm. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
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 Image
“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 Image
Is there really any relationship between artists' personal conduct and their art? Certainly not. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
Gore Vidal was a man of immense literary talent, some of which he used well, some of which he wasted. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
