William Elliott azelgrove's Blog, page 17
July 6, 2017
Edith Wilson and the Twenty Fifth Amendment
The Twenty Fifth Amendment is in the news now. Many say Donald Trump cannot fulfill his duties as President because he might be crazy. See Mika and Joe. The Twenty Fifth Amendment passed in 1967 was created in part because of what happened with the Woodrow Wilson Presidency and Edith Wilson's assumption of presidential power. Up to that point Clause 6 of Article 11 of the Constitution was vague. It said basically if the President can't fulfill his duties someone should take over. It did not even specify the Vice President.
When Woodrow Wilson had his stroke and Edith and Cary Grayson covered up his condition they were not really violating the Constitution. Few could say who would declare Wilson unfit and when Secretary Lansing asked Dr. Grayson if he he might do it Grayson refused and dared anyone to come forth and push the issue. No one did. So Edith ran the White House and essentially became our First Woman President.
But now the 25th Amendment makes it clear. If the Vice President and his cabinet decide the President is unfit then the VP becomes President unless the President protests and then it goes to Congress for a vote. Edith Wilson would have been powerless if Vice President Marshall had taken the inititative and had the cabinet vote on Wilson's ability to rule. Marshall would have become President and the Edith Wilson Presidency would have not happened.
So now we have Trump. Would Pence undertake such a vote? Not a chance. But at the least people know there is a vehicle now for Presidential succession should Trump become insane.
Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
When Woodrow Wilson had his stroke and Edith and Cary Grayson covered up his condition they were not really violating the Constitution. Few could say who would declare Wilson unfit and when Secretary Lansing asked Dr. Grayson if he he might do it Grayson refused and dared anyone to come forth and push the issue. No one did. So Edith ran the White House and essentially became our First Woman President.
But now the 25th Amendment makes it clear. If the Vice President and his cabinet decide the President is unfit then the VP becomes President unless the President protests and then it goes to Congress for a vote. Edith Wilson would have been powerless if Vice President Marshall had taken the inititative and had the cabinet vote on Wilson's ability to rule. Marshall would have become President and the Edith Wilson Presidency would have not happened.
So now we have Trump. Would Pence undertake such a vote? Not a chance. But at the least people know there is a vehicle now for Presidential succession should Trump become insane.
Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
June 30, 2017
Teddy Roosevelt Would Thrash the Cad
It is an old term. Woodrow Wilson told some reporters that if they did not quit reporting on his first wife Ellen Wilson he would thrash them. It makes us think of a man with gloves slapping another man or someone whipping someone else. The technical definition is to beat someone with a stick or a whip. In the old Victorian sense of the word someone was thrashed for a slight on insult or an injury to honor. A thrashing was the warm up for a duel the ultimate settling of a slight. So now we really have a situation where someone needs to be thrashed.
Maybe Jeffry Lord on CNN should be thrashed for saying it is alright to imply that women are menstruating everywhere and bleeding from everywhere. Theodore Roosevelt would thrash Lord for that if not beat him to a pulp. Roosevelt confronted more than a few men who implied he was a coward and demanded retribution and even offered himself available for a duel. He in fact bought dueling pistols when he was a student at Harvard.
Another great word is cad. Definition: a man who misbehaves dishonorably especially toward a woman. Cads are always thrashed sooner or later. There were certain lines that were not to be crossed. And when they were crossed the cad was thrashed. Lord says equality demands that men and women be treated equally and women should be able to take being insulted by powerful men.
What a cad.
Forging a President
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
Maybe Jeffry Lord on CNN should be thrashed for saying it is alright to imply that women are menstruating everywhere and bleeding from everywhere. Theodore Roosevelt would thrash Lord for that if not beat him to a pulp. Roosevelt confronted more than a few men who implied he was a coward and demanded retribution and even offered himself available for a duel. He in fact bought dueling pistols when he was a student at Harvard.
Another great word is cad. Definition: a man who misbehaves dishonorably especially toward a woman. Cads are always thrashed sooner or later. There were certain lines that were not to be crossed. And when they were crossed the cad was thrashed. Lord says equality demands that men and women be treated equally and women should be able to take being insulted by powerful men.
What a cad.
Forging a President
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
June 29, 2017
Fame without Talent
Tis the age we live in. Fame without talent. Start with the Kardashians, veer to Donald Trump, then go where you want. It is ubiquitous. The latest is the budding Youtube star who convinced his wife to shoot in him in the chest with a book in front of him. It killed him. He wanted more viewers for his channel. He wanted fame. It is all around us. Just look at kids who spend all their times doing selfies or creating music videos with themselves at the center. Look at Facebook. It is the look at me motif with tattoos and flaming orange hair gone bad.
But if there is no talent then eventually fame flames out. For some it goes a long time depending on the money involved. But for middle class people angling for some oddity to push them into the stratosphere of quick silver fame it usually burns out very quickly. YouTube stars leer at people and proclaim anyone can do it. Just start filming yourself and put it out there. You are the star and you will pull the people unless of course you don't.
The couple with the book lived in the middle of nowhere. The husband was a bit of a daredevil. Their hook was look at our young crazy lives. So what is crazier than shooting a bullet into a book with your chest behind it with a fifty caliber pistol. It hit the Washington Post so I suppose it worked. Of course she is up for mansalughter, so maybe she can revel in the cascading ticker of viewers looking for some gore from prison.
william hazelgrove
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
But if there is no talent then eventually fame flames out. For some it goes a long time depending on the money involved. But for middle class people angling for some oddity to push them into the stratosphere of quick silver fame it usually burns out very quickly. YouTube stars leer at people and proclaim anyone can do it. Just start filming yourself and put it out there. You are the star and you will pull the people unless of course you don't.
The couple with the book lived in the middle of nowhere. The husband was a bit of a daredevil. Their hook was look at our young crazy lives. So what is crazier than shooting a bullet into a book with your chest behind it with a fifty caliber pistol. It hit the Washington Post so I suppose it worked. Of course she is up for mansalughter, so maybe she can revel in the cascading ticker of viewers looking for some gore from prison.
william hazelgrove
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
Roosevelt and Churchill in the Heroic Age
I have been reading Hero of the Empire by Candace Millard and it hit me that the similarities between Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt are many. Both men came of age in the Heroic Age of Shackleton and Scott the two polar explorers who set the bar for suffering and death with their exploration of the South Pole. The Heroic Age can be defined as men of a certain patrician class feeling it is their destiny to explore, fight, or rule. The heroic man knows not fear and usually puts himself in grave danger.
Take Winston Churchill in the Boar war where he is attacked on a troop train and by all rights should have died there. This is when he was a war corespondent who really should not have even been fighting but he wanted to find war and test himself and he ended up being captured. Once captured Churchill makes a daring escape and goes on the run. The fact he could be shot and killed at any moment is negated by the heroic mans feeling that he is special and Gods Will shall keep him safe. In Churchill's case this seems to be true.
Much the same for Teddy Roosevelt who goes west after his wife and mother die on the same day in 1883 and ends up in the Badlands ;a place Custer called hell with the fires out and then puts himself through every test a young dude from the East could find with the possibility of death or great injury. Fighting Indians, badmen, blizzards, heat, stampeding cattle, swollen rivers, wild horses, Roosevelt cheats death at every turn...yet he comes out unscathed. He has the sense he will not be harmed and three years later he returns to the East to eventually become President as Churchill returns to become England's greatest prime minister.
The Heroic Age ended as modernism moved in. Men were no longer heroic, they were mortal. Such a pity.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
Take Winston Churchill in the Boar war where he is attacked on a troop train and by all rights should have died there. This is when he was a war corespondent who really should not have even been fighting but he wanted to find war and test himself and he ended up being captured. Once captured Churchill makes a daring escape and goes on the run. The fact he could be shot and killed at any moment is negated by the heroic mans feeling that he is special and Gods Will shall keep him safe. In Churchill's case this seems to be true.
Much the same for Teddy Roosevelt who goes west after his wife and mother die on the same day in 1883 and ends up in the Badlands ;a place Custer called hell with the fires out and then puts himself through every test a young dude from the East could find with the possibility of death or great injury. Fighting Indians, badmen, blizzards, heat, stampeding cattle, swollen rivers, wild horses, Roosevelt cheats death at every turn...yet he comes out unscathed. He has the sense he will not be harmed and three years later he returns to the East to eventually become President as Churchill returns to become England's greatest prime minister.
The Heroic Age ended as modernism moved in. Men were no longer heroic, they were mortal. Such a pity.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
June 23, 2017
Trump Voters Will Suffer the Most Under Health Care Bill
If you are fit then you will live. If you are not you will die. So says Aynn Rand who is a favorite author of Paul Ryan and company. Social Darwinism is alive and well now and only the strong shall survive. If you are lower middle class, working class, old...you will lose. The Lower Middle Class will take one in the gut and then start to die off. Trumps base will be torpedoed with McConnell's gift to America. The underlying premise is all Scrooge. If the poor must die then let them and decrease the surplus population.
The NY Times and others see this as a giveback to the rich. But it is more than that. This is what the Republicans have wanted ever since FDR pushed through the New Deal. They want to return to a Horatio Alger world. Everyone has the same chance in America, and if you cannot make it then it is your fault and expect no help from the government. IF you are not smart enough to become rich or at least well off then you should not walk the planet. It is a direct attack on redistributionism began in the thirties and ending under Donald Trump.
This is why the Republicans shall pass the bill. It is an ideological sledgehammer to the premise of helping the poor and the less fortunate by taxing the rich and giving to the poor. Social programs like Social Security, Medicare, will be next. If you did not save then you deserve to die in your old age. This is the premise. Only the strong shall survive...and the rich.
Forging A President
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
The NY Times and others see this as a giveback to the rich. But it is more than that. This is what the Republicans have wanted ever since FDR pushed through the New Deal. They want to return to a Horatio Alger world. Everyone has the same chance in America, and if you cannot make it then it is your fault and expect no help from the government. IF you are not smart enough to become rich or at least well off then you should not walk the planet. It is a direct attack on redistributionism began in the thirties and ending under Donald Trump.
This is why the Republicans shall pass the bill. It is an ideological sledgehammer to the premise of helping the poor and the less fortunate by taxing the rich and giving to the poor. Social programs like Social Security, Medicare, will be next. If you did not save then you deserve to die in your old age. This is the premise. Only the strong shall survive...and the rich.
Forging A President
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
June 21, 2017
Did Teddy Roosevelt Hold off 5 Indians in the Badlands ?
Yes. It might have been four but no matter. The Dude newly arrived in the West was out looking for some horses when Indians appeared on the horizon and started galloping toward him. This is 1884 with Geronimo still on the loose and atrocities occurring on both sides. Men carried poison with them in case they were captured as stories of Indians cutting off men's organs while alive was well known. Enter Teddy Roosevelt to the Badlands fresh off the train from Manhattan. He had come out to find his piece of the West after his wife and mother died on the same day.
So the Indians with Winchesters raised charge Teddy. He swings down and puts his rifle across the pommel of his saddle and pins it to the center Indian. They stop and legend has it they professed they were friendly. The man with thick glasses from Manhattan would have none of it and told them to keep their distance. They then cussed at him and Teddy would later write he knew they had a good command of English then.
So how much danger was Teddy in? Possibly a lot. The Indians could have easily killed him and taken his horse and rifle and left his bones to rot in the Badlands. Cowboys were found many times scalped and worse after Indian encounters. So Roosevelt was smart to hold his ground. Apparently they then followed him but eventually gave it up. Teddy Roosevelt's stock went up in the West and the Roosevelt legend climbed just a little higher.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
So the Indians with Winchesters raised charge Teddy. He swings down and puts his rifle across the pommel of his saddle and pins it to the center Indian. They stop and legend has it they professed they were friendly. The man with thick glasses from Manhattan would have none of it and told them to keep their distance. They then cussed at him and Teddy would later write he knew they had a good command of English then.
So how much danger was Teddy in? Possibly a lot. The Indians could have easily killed him and taken his horse and rifle and left his bones to rot in the Badlands. Cowboys were found many times scalped and worse after Indian encounters. So Roosevelt was smart to hold his ground. Apparently they then followed him but eventually gave it up. Teddy Roosevelt's stock went up in the West and the Roosevelt legend climbed just a little higher.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
June 19, 2017
Otto Warmbier Stirs a Sleeping Giant
I saw him when he was first arrested It did not look good. He was heading into hell. Otto Warmbier has died. He had so much brain damage the tissue in his brain had died from lack of blood flow. Heart attack or respiratory arrest the doctors said...after that they had no explanation. Teddy Roosevelt would have had a very simple answer for the North Koreans. Lock and load. He would have screamed from the rooftops to attack and would not have been satisfied until the first American soldiers hit the beach. Things were simpler in 1906.
Otto Warmbier took down a political poster and for that he was sentenced to fifteen years. This we know. It was their revenge. Now what? Remember the Maine. That started the war with with Spain. Teddy saw it as inevitable. The war had to be fought and settled. It was. Now we have the Koreans building an ICBM. Teddy would see this one way. The issue would have to be settled sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.
Something about a human face put on the nebulous war of words. Otto Warmbier is gone for taking a political poster down. But we know he was killed for much more. It was the only way to strike at a giant. Step on his toes, tweak his nose, spit in his eye. What does the giant do? When Teddy Roosevelt died Woodrow Wilson said, death had to take Roosevelt when he was sleeping, otherwise there would have been a fight...
Otto never woke up, but you never know when a sleeping giant might.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
Otto Warmbier took down a political poster and for that he was sentenced to fifteen years. This we know. It was their revenge. Now what? Remember the Maine. That started the war with with Spain. Teddy saw it as inevitable. The war had to be fought and settled. It was. Now we have the Koreans building an ICBM. Teddy would see this one way. The issue would have to be settled sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.
Something about a human face put on the nebulous war of words. Otto Warmbier is gone for taking a political poster down. But we know he was killed for much more. It was the only way to strike at a giant. Step on his toes, tweak his nose, spit in his eye. What does the giant do? When Teddy Roosevelt died Woodrow Wilson said, death had to take Roosevelt when he was sleeping, otherwise there would have been a fight...
Otto never woke up, but you never know when a sleeping giant might.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
June 14, 2017
How the People in the Baseball Shooting Feel Now
Your first thought is to stay alive. To run. This is incredible in itself. Middle class people are not used to running for their lives. Maybe the military, the soldier, the veteran, but now you are running from the bullets. It is the shots you hear. This is the sound that gets you running like you have never run before. And everyone else is running too. It is an avalanche or a tornado of humans doing what they are not used to and that is dealing with a fight of flight response that is overwhelming. Time slows down during this or ceases to exist. You are somewhere between moments that might be your last.
And then you are trying to make yourself small. You will hide behind grass if you have too. Anything to stop those bullets that surely have your name. You just cant get away fast enough and everyone else is trying to do the same. You have no time to consider you are literally running for your life. That will come later when you go to bed and you hear the shots over and over. Right now you are in the land of hyper-awareness fueled by adrenal cells working overtime. You are a revved up machine that is bent on trying to get out of the trajectory of a piece of flying metal that might have your name on it.
And then when the shooter is secure the situation is still active. This means no one knows if there are others. You cannot relax. You are still in danger. And the ambulances and police and Swat teams and media come in a flood. You talk like someone else and recant your experience. You marvel how calm you sound as you learn of those who were not so lucky. And once the wave passes and you finally get home you are different. You will never ever be the same. You will never view a public place the same way. You will never trust the world again. In the time it takes a bullet to go a mile you have been changed. You are now in a club no one wants to belong to, the victims of a mass shooting.
*William Hazelgrove and his family were in the Ft Lauderdale Mass Shooting. He is writing a book The Shots In Terminal 2
Forging A President
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
And then you are trying to make yourself small. You will hide behind grass if you have too. Anything to stop those bullets that surely have your name. You just cant get away fast enough and everyone else is trying to do the same. You have no time to consider you are literally running for your life. That will come later when you go to bed and you hear the shots over and over. Right now you are in the land of hyper-awareness fueled by adrenal cells working overtime. You are a revved up machine that is bent on trying to get out of the trajectory of a piece of flying metal that might have your name on it.
And then when the shooter is secure the situation is still active. This means no one knows if there are others. You cannot relax. You are still in danger. And the ambulances and police and Swat teams and media come in a flood. You talk like someone else and recant your experience. You marvel how calm you sound as you learn of those who were not so lucky. And once the wave passes and you finally get home you are different. You will never ever be the same. You will never view a public place the same way. You will never trust the world again. In the time it takes a bullet to go a mile you have been changed. You are now in a club no one wants to belong to, the victims of a mass shooting.
*William Hazelgrove and his family were in the Ft Lauderdale Mass Shooting. He is writing a book The Shots In Terminal 2
Forging A President
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
June 12, 2017
Selling Books at Printers Row Chicago
You get there early and no one is in your tent yet. You unload your books williamhazelgrove.com and position them on the table along with your bookmarks, water, pad, money for change. Other people arrive. The temperature will soon be in the nineties and your tent is in the middle of Dearborn Street. This is one of the few times you are shoulder to shoulder with other authors selling books. This is good and bad. You are all after the same customers and it is a bit of an open market with everyone pitching. Nine O'clock rolls around and the first people pass by.
Your books are hardcovers but this doesn't matter. People will pay 30.00 for a book they want. The man across the street is selling everything for three bucks. You begin to sweat and now you are pushing up against the other authors because suddenly the tent is full. It is already hot, heat rash hot, and the water is not enough. The heat is an enemy that zaps your energy and you need every bit of it to pitch your book over and over and over. This will go on for two days.
You would like to think you are beyond Printers Row. That your books should magically sell themselves and there are a lot of self published authors there. Your books are more expensive with a big publisher who will not discount. But this is the Midwest Mecca for books and it is long hot and grueling and you fall into bed exhausted and dehydrated at the end of the day. Your books sell out twice and at the end you take home a lot less books than you came with.
You wake on Monday wondering where the weekend went and then you remember, Printers Row. You will be there again next year with another book.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
Your books are hardcovers but this doesn't matter. People will pay 30.00 for a book they want. The man across the street is selling everything for three bucks. You begin to sweat and now you are pushing up against the other authors because suddenly the tent is full. It is already hot, heat rash hot, and the water is not enough. The heat is an enemy that zaps your energy and you need every bit of it to pitch your book over and over and over. This will go on for two days.
You would like to think you are beyond Printers Row. That your books should magically sell themselves and there are a lot of self published authors there. Your books are more expensive with a big publisher who will not discount. But this is the Midwest Mecca for books and it is long hot and grueling and you fall into bed exhausted and dehydrated at the end of the day. Your books sell out twice and at the end you take home a lot less books than you came with.
You wake on Monday wondering where the weekend went and then you remember, Printers Row. You will be there again next year with another book.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
June 6, 2017
Book Media in the Age of Trump
Unless you are a senator or a talk show host or a pundit then you will have a hard time busting through to the media Gods. Pushing a book is hard enough but in the age of Trump where the oxygen is used up by the President 24/7 it is like spitting into the wind. I just finished over twenty radio stations and I would like to think that makes a difference to book sales but I also know that the media cycle is now down to about fifteen nanoseconds per person for media attention and then the spotlight moves on.
Unless you are Al Franken or Chris Hayes or Rachel Maddow. Then you are assured a NY Times Bestseller regardless of content. Authors see this as grossly unfair. The mid list author toils for years and then fights for a bit of the media pie only to see his book fall quickly into obscurity. One would like to think the cream rises to the top and I do believe eventually it does but when you see the television personalities hawking their own books then you start to believe the fix is in.
You could make a case that they deserved it. They fought their way to the top of the media mountain and it is time to cash in. Why not? But still, one does feel like the deck is stacked and the best you can do between our Twittering President and our publishing television landscape is hope those who want to read will seek you out. Tis a big hope in the year 2017.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
Unless you are Al Franken or Chris Hayes or Rachel Maddow. Then you are assured a NY Times Bestseller regardless of content. Authors see this as grossly unfair. The mid list author toils for years and then fights for a bit of the media pie only to see his book fall quickly into obscurity. One would like to think the cream rises to the top and I do believe eventually it does but when you see the television personalities hawking their own books then you start to believe the fix is in.
You could make a case that they deserved it. They fought their way to the top of the media mountain and it is time to cash in. Why not? But still, one does feel like the deck is stacked and the best you can do between our Twittering President and our publishing television landscape is hope those who want to read will seek you out. Tis a big hope in the year 2017.
Forging A President How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
"Rocket Man is the funniest novel since Russo's Straight Man."
Chicago Sun Times
"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
