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October 29, 2007
Review Alert!
A nice review of The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told in the online magazine Blogcritics.org.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2007
Cousins: That's Nothing!
I chuckled at the news last week that Barack Obama is related to Dick Cheney. The two are eighth cousins, both descended from a Huguenot French ancestor in the 1700’s. A spokesman for Obama claimed with a finely tuned barb that Cheney is the “black sheep” of the family. But the strange connection between these political polar opposites comes as no surprise, given the plethora of quirky incidents buried in the back-stories of our country’s presidents.
George W. Bush, for instance, is related to Franklin Roosevelt, Humphrey Bogart, and Alec Baldwin. (Who would the black sheep be in that family?) All are descended from John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, who came across on the Mayflower in 1620. And none of them might have had a chance to be born except for a dramatic rescue at sea on the Mayflower that saved Howland from sleeping with the fishes.
Imagine the jokes if the first president of our country (not to mention the nation’s capital) were named Hertburn. It could easily have happened. Back in 1183, the King of England gave a knight named William De Hertburn the village of Wessyington in return for his services. De Hertburn showed his gratitude by changing his name to Wessyington. (It probably didn’t take a lot of convincing.) Over the years that became corrupted to...oh I think you can guess…Washington. And so we were saved from “Hertburn, D.C.” Although we still get heartburn over what happens there.
It isn’t only presidents’ pedigrees that hold such tasty pieces of history candy. There’s the things they did while they were working their way up to the top job. Grover Cleveland was a hangman. Abraham Lincoln took part in a duel—the broad sword was his weapon of choice. Lyndon Johnson effectively launched his political career in a bathroom—with no toe tapping. Richard Nixon engineered a break-in at law school. Jimmy Carter once filed a UFO report. And Jerry Ford was a glamorous NY model. (No, I’m not making that up. He was actually on the cover of Cosmo back in the day, and also had a spread in Life magazine.)
And let’s not overlook their behavior while they were in the White house. John Quincy Adams liked to swim naked every day in the Potomac. Sometimes people came out and hid behind the bushes to watch. (That would be quite a tourist draw today.) Thomas Jefferson wrote his own version of the gospel; apparently Mathew, Mark, Luke and John weren’t quite enough for him. Woodrow Wilson raised sheep on the White House lawn to demonstrate his support for the troops. (In case you’re wondering, the sheep meant that the Wilsons could reduce the size of the landscaping crew, and also sell the wool for charity.) No mention if there were any black sheep there.
What are the odds, you might ask, when looking at the cousinage of Obama and Cheney? But what are the odds that a president could have someone walk up to him, try to fire two pistols from eight feet away, and have both of them misfire? It happened to Andrew Jackson, and experts say the odds were 125,000 to one against it. About the same as the odds that Dick Cheney will someday appear on the Daily Show with John Stewart. What, for that matter, are the odds that one president could have had his life saved by a song, another by a speech, and another by a movie he made 42 years earlier? Yet each of those things happened.
It’s the same for the candidates as it is for the 43 men who have held the nation’s highest office. (50 men if you include the 7 presidents before Washington, but that’s another story.) We know what makes them famous. It’s what we don’t know that makes them endlessly fascinating.
For more interesting presidential tales, check out my new book The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told.
Posted by rickbeyer at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)
Live Chat Transcript
Here's a transcript of my live chat yesterday on Gather.com It was fun: I sat in my office with cup of tea, my itunes on, typing away answering questions. Afterwards I got comments from a number of people who thenwent out and checked out some of my other postings. The gather.com membership does seem to be a good matchup for my books, so I will try to keep that connection going.
Posted by rickbeyer at 07:48 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2007
Live Chat
I am doing a live chat on Gather.com on Thursday October 245, 2007. Here's the link. Please check it out. I do think you have to join Gather.com to be able to ask questions, but it isn't that hard to do. People will be typing questions and I will be typing answers as fast as my fingers can make it happen.
Posted by rickbeyer at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
Almost, Somewhat, Postive
A more than positive review of the new book on the Almost, Somewhat, Positive blog.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)
Raidio Tour Day 3, Part I
Interviewed this morning by Mancow, the syndicated radio morning host. Among the questions asked:
• Do you have the story about Abraham Lincoln selling crack cocaine?
• Franklin D. Roosevelt: Did the D stand for Dick?
• Is it true that George Washington was 17 feet tall?
• Did Madison have feet?
(That last is the hands down winner for most unusual question I have ever received.)
Being on this show is sort of like being on the Colbert show , in that you are there to be on the receiving end of outrageous remarks and questions. But that's the shtick, and that's OK. In the midst of being a straight man for these ripostes, I managed to tell a couple of stories from the book, and he gave a nice plug for it at the end.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:31 AM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2007
Radio Tour Day 2
Actually this should be Radio Tour Day 3, but neither of the interviews scheduled for yesterday actually happened. At the appointed hour, the phone number didn't ring. Both interviews were rescheduled, but it is frustrating to gear up for interviews that don't happen.
Today, three interviews: Myrtle Beach Florida, Cedar Rapid Iowa, St. Cloud Minnesota. Two of of the interviews were taped for use tomorrow. The interviewers all seemed jazzed about the book.
The interview with the Myrtle Beach station was being during today's show for air tomorrow. This is pretty common with morning teams...during the songs they are taping stuff for the next day. It was striking because the hosts, Mitch and Alix, had to break away in the middle of it and go on the air. They completely changed gears from the interview in about 5 seconds, went on the air, then came back and changed gears again to resume the taping. Pretty remarkable!
I have been going out to area bookstores to sign books. Yesterday I hit a Barnes and Noble and a Borders that each had a stack of books. Hope they can sell them all! Today I went to the Concord Bookshop in nearby Concord, MA, and got a wonderful surprise. They had my book on display in the window. That certainly made my spirits soar! Naturally, I had to take a picture. My book is front and center at the bottom of the picture.
I did a book signing at this store two years ago, and they have been very supportive. I went inside to talk to the manager, John, and he told me that they had already sold two books and were ordering more because he expected it to be a big seller. "This is probably the best one yet, " he said. I did not argue.
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:54 PM | Comments (1)
October 22, 2007
Radio Tour Day 1
This week I'm doing what is called a "satellite radio tour" for The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. That's a misleading name since it doesn't involve any satellites or any touring. It involves doing a lot of radio interviews, mostly by phone.
It kicked off last night with the Jordan Rich show on WBZ radio. I've been on Jordan's show three previous times, so we are old friends now, and have a good time. When we start talking about history stories it is a quick hour.
My wife Marilyn came along and snapped some pictures during the interview.
Even though we were on up against the Red Sox-Indians Game 7, we had a lot of callers, from Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and elsewhere. WBZ is one of the old 50,000 Watt Clear Channel stations, and it still has some major reach at night.
As the week progresses, I'll update you on the various places I'm (virtually) going.
Posted by rickbeyer at 05:35 PM | Comments (1)
October 21, 2007
Media Week
Tonight at 10 PM I start a week of media interviews for The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told by talking to Jordan Rich at WBZ Radio in Boston. An updated list of interviews is posted at
Several people have reported seeing storefront displays of the new book, which is very exciting. Onward and upward!
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2007
Obama and Cheney are Related
Yes, that's correct. Its all over the news today. It turns out that the Vice President and the Democratic hopeful are 8th Cousins. The person who made the discovery: Lynn Cheney.
And if you think that is surprising, here's something else for you: George Bush, Franklin Roosevelt, and Humphrey Bogart and Alec Baldwin are also related! They are all descendants of John Howland, who came across on the Mayflower.
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2007
Publication Day--Yay
Today was the official “on-sale” ate of my new book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. It was a quiet day. It is sort of strange, to be honest with you. You look forward to the publication date for months, and unless you have some event scheduled, it seems anti-climactic when it arrived.
Nonetheless, it is a banner day, and to celebrate I want to share some pre-publication comments. All are from “regular people,” as opposed to reviewers who work for a publication or news outlet.
Some come from folks who, by one means or another, have gotten their hands on an advance copy:
As an unofficial presidential history geek, I just wanted to say how absolutely riveted I was by your outstanding book, "The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told." I simply couldn't put it down. It was that wonderful.Steve, Minnesota
Some come from reviewers on the social-networking site gather.com
Rick Beyer has managed to uncover the real humanity in the all-boys' club called the Presidency.Donna, Baltimore
You will not want to put this book down until you are finished reading it so grab a soda and get cozy and begin your journey into the lives of the Presidents. You will smile, laugh and say “Wow I did not know that” while reading it.Connie, West Virginia
Some come from friends and acquaintances on who received my announcement email
Good luck on your new book…I am just wondering when you found the time to write it!! I cannot even find the time to get family birthday cards out on time.Richard, Lexington, MA
Those presidents…they’ll stupefy you every time.Maura, New York
Do I know you?Dennis, Honolulu
(Yes he does. But he forgot—I’m that memorable!)
My favorite so far, from my high school English teacher, Harry Goldgar, now living in New Orleans
Another book! Wonderful. How energetic you are. ("Another damned, thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr. Gibbon?" -- William Henry, Duke of Gloucester upon receiving from Edward Gibbon Vol. II of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in 1781.) This is great news, and I look forward to digesting all the dirt you have dug up on the High and Mighty. (But I fear you may never eat lunch in Washington again.)
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2007
Gather.Com
Four days and Counting...there have been some book sitings, people who have seen the new book in stores, (before the pub date--shocking!) but I have not yet.
I am working with Harper Collins to promote the book on a social networking site called Gather.com, which bills itself as a social networking site for adults. Harper Collins has its own "group" on Gather, and for the next few weeks I am one of two featured authors. I have posted some materials, and other people have written reviews of the book You can check some of it out here: (if you want to see the reader reviews, the easiest way to do it is just search the title of the book on the upper left hand corner of the Gather page, and they should pop up.
I have a live chat coming up in a couple of weeks on Gather. As soon as I learn details, I'll do a post about it.
Posted by rickbeyer at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2007
Charlie Siringo
A cool piece of history candy about a cool character from the American West, Charlie Siringo, can be found on my sister's blog, Choosing Santa Fe
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2007
One week away
Publication day for The Greatest Stories Never Told is one week away, so, as with both previous books, anxiety is on the rise.
I tape my first TV interview today, a local Boston area show, The Literati Scene with Smoki Bacon and Dick Concannon. Let' see if I can get off to a good start. (For more on Smoki, see this earlier entry)
Teresa Brady, my publicist at Harper Collins, says, and I quote: "We've been assigned for review in the New York Times Style Section--I'm waiting on the date." This is great news--unless of course it turns out that unbeknownst to me, the book is an absolute disaster and they give it a withering pan. Worst nightmares confirmed. Blood pressure going up. Dead man walking. (Calm down, Rick, calm down!)Of course if the reviewer says something nice, every press release I ever send out will say something like: "The New York Times calls him ____ ______ ____ ________________ __."
Fox News is said to be interested in doing an interview, but nothing is set yet. Radio is in the capable hands of Lisa Sweet. A few bookings so far, I'll be updating my media calendar this week.
My fingers are crossed.
Just for fun I looked back at the entry from one week before my last book was published. Similar anxiety, and a link to a funny article that airs out every author fear so they can evaporate on the wind.
Posted by rickbeyer at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)