I had the honor to be part of a podcast that means a lot to me which you can listen to here. So often the podcasts I listen to are about pop culture or true crime, but this one means a lot because it’s about a subject I’ve spent the last ten years contemplating and working side projects about, which is the American memory of World War I. It’s why I took part in the Continue Reading →
I had a lot of fun being a last-minute replacement guest on a great New York City podcast last night, Rediscovering New York. You can watch it here via Facebook Live. The subject was Saboteurs and Spies, and I covered the Civil War in New York as well as WWI and the Black Tom Island explosion in 1916. My fellow tour guide Robert Brenner was also a guest covering WWII and those pesky Nazis in Continue Reading →
July 6 is the centennial of the tragic death of John Purroy Mitchel, Mayor of New York City and U.S. Army officer in World War I. His life is well documented but there is one fact I’m still working on. I believe that only George Washington and Alexander Hamilton have more monuments and memorials in New York City than Mitchel. If this is in fact true, then Mitchel is the No. 3 most-remembered man in Continue Reading →
The only National Cemetery in New York City is in Brooklyn. Visit the beautiful and historic Cypress Hills National Cemetery, the final resting place for 21,000 veterans and dependents from the American Revolution to the Vietnam War. The cemetery was opened in 1862, and is older than Arlington National Cemetery. Take a walk to visit the graves of 24 Medal of Honor winners and soldiers from more than 200 years of American History. See the Continue Reading →
I travelled to the New Jersey-Delaware border to take part in a Great War day at a historic fort. I saw some of the best living history I’ve ever experienced inside a restored 1902 Army structure. The best part was meeting a lot of reenactors who share the same passion I do for World War One. The Great War exhibition at Fort Mott State Park, Pennsville, New Jersey, was held on May 5, 2018. The Continue Reading →
I was interviewed for a French-German TV documentary on the USS Recruit, the WWI battleship that was in Union Square. The episode is in French, but I think the guy sounds like me. It aired on Arte, the travel documentary Invitation Au Voyage. For WWI, the focus of Navy and Marine Corps recruiting was Union Square. On Memorial Day, May 30, 1917, the Navy “launched” the battleship USS Recruit, made entirely of wood, on Broadway. Continue Reading →
It is a huge honor for me to announce that I was awarded my first-ever literary honor on Monday. My book World War One New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War (Globe Pequot Press) took home the Apple Award given by the Guides Association for New York City. The awards category my book was nominated in and won is Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction New York City Book Writing (Published Continue Reading →
On Monday, March 5, I will be speaking at the Greater Astoria Historical Society about my book World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War. The talk is free for GAHS members, $5 for non-members. Greater Astoria Historical Society Quinn Building 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor Long Island City, NY 11106 Part One of my talk covers all five Boroughs of New York City. These are the places Continue Reading →
Today is the birth date of Neysa McMein, January 25, 1888, in Quincy, Illinois. Born Marjorie Moran McMein, she was the highest-paid and most in-demand female artist of the Jazz Age, who painted scores of magazine covers and created iconic posters in World War I. She was also a player in Women’s Suffrage in New York, a fashion icon, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. McMein was a volunteer in France in WWI, Continue Reading →
Come along on a walking tour of sites that were important to New York during World War I, from military, recruiting, and fundraising. Remember our honored war dead by visiting beautiful memorials around the city, from Midtown Manhattan to Central Park. This unique walking tour honors the centennial of WWI (1914-1918) and led by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, author of World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War Continue Reading →