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10/30/2004: "Supper With Historic Authors"

I belong to a newsgroup of booksellers. Now and then, one of us will stump the group with a question, or break the ice with a real question. Not long ago, the quest was, If you could share a meal with historic figures, who would they be. Here was my answer:



William Shakespeare--It would also be interesting to find out if there's any
truth to the Bacon theory.

Christopher Morley--Author and journalist whose works I truly love!

H.L. Mencken (Besides being literary, Mencken could be relied upon to liven
the conversation with his caustic barbs!)

Winston Churchill--a noted politician who was also a prolific author. Not
many can juggle both careers, much less make a significant mark in history.

William Shirer (I've read his book, The Nightmare Years, at least ten times, and his
insights on both Gandhi and the Middle East would be at odds with Churchill,
who was an imperialist at heart. Also, when I was a very small child, I
lived in eastern Massachusetts, only a few miles from Shirer's home in
Lenox. He used to ride his bicycle down the main street past my house. My
memories of him are of an older man with a beard and a pipe in his mouth,
bent down over the handlebars. More than anything I would have liked to have
shared that memory with him, but he passed away before I could do so).

There are many others whom I could name: Richard Halliburton, an early American
travel writer whose works I have collected for years; Jack London; Alexandre Dumas;
Johannes Gutenberg, without whose invention none of us would be where we are
today (nor would civilization, for that matter!); Antonio Salieri -- who's gotten a bum rap
for years, but was the teacher of Beethoven, and so many others; J.R.R. Tolkien, scholar,
translator, and fantasist extraordinaire (I think he'd be pleased, for the most part, with
the the recent film trilogy--it would be fun to show that video after the coffee hour,
and see his reaction).