Friday, February 7, 2014

Talking pirates with WGME-13, American Nations in Grand Rapids and D.C.

My cover story on Blackbeard (and new discoveries about his final days) in the current issue of Smithsonian has been receiving some media attention of late. Most recent is this short live interview with my local CBS television affiliate, WGME, here in Maine. More to come on this and the book that inspired it -- Republic of Pirates -- and the forthcoming NBC drama Crossbones

Also, I've recently given American Nations talks in Michigan, Massachusetts and D.C.. Regarding the former, here's a write up from the Grand Rapids Press focusing on the Tea Party angle. For more on that, start here and continue here.

The D.C. talk was at a Governing Institute conference and so not open to the public at large, but I had the pleasure of speaking to the audience at the National Press Club, in the same room where they hold the White House Correspondents' Dinner, that Washington circus memorably taken to task in Mark Leibovich's This Town. (In my case there were some bigger city mayors and a lieutenant governor in the audience, but no presidents, past or present, so there was no roasting to be done.)

My next American Nations talk is February 27 at the University of Southern Maine here in Portland. Details to follow.

1 comment:

  1. Colin,

    I enjoyed your talk in Grand Rapids, and later thought of a couple of questions. You mentioned Salt Lake City as a Yankee enclave of sorts, but in your book list all of Utah as Far West. Why is that? Followup on the regionalism of the TEA Party, here in Grand Rapids I see anti tax sentiment mostly justified (rationalized?) by anecdotes regarding tax money spent foolishly, bureaucrats not being good stewards of the money. Do you think the Yankee frugal nature would be an avenue the TEA Party could address?

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