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Claude Christopher Largent: Teacher in Early Oklahoma
Claude Christopher Largent, July 2, 1888-July 25, 1975. Claude Largent was born to George Washington Largent and Mary Lue Smith in Booneville, Arkansas, on July 2, 1888. George Washington (GW) was a farmer and Mary Lue, who was half Indian … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Biography
Tagged Biography, genealogy, Largent Family, Lawsons, Oklahoma
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George Washington Largent, Arkansas Farmer
George Washington Largent, August 15, 1855-Feb. 26, 1924 George Washington Largent’s life has a bit of mystery about it. His gravestone lists his birth date as August 15, 1859. The month and day are probably correct, though the year of … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Biography
Tagged Arkansas, Biography, genealogy, Largent Family, Lawsons
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Prisoners’ take on “The Storyteller,” by Mario Vargas Llosa
The Storyteller, by Mario Vargas Llosas, is a complex book that interweaves two different narratives, one by a writer, one by a storyteller; the book explores the people of the Amazon rain forest in eastern Peru from the 1950s … Continue reading
The Return to McCarthyism
Almost seventy years ago, an obscure senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, used fear as a means to initiate widespread panic and intimidate the innocent. Fear can do this to people. Fear makes the rational become irrational, the innocent become guilty, … Continue reading
Posted in American History, General Essays, Government
Tagged Demagoguery, McCarthyism
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Historical Sites along the Maine Coast: Kittery to York
Kittery, Maine, situated on the northern shores of the Piscataqua River, was a home to seamen and fishermen. Most such men of the salt sea were not well known in their own time and forgotten today. An exception was Lieutenant … Continue reading
Posted in American History, books, Christianity, God's Providence, Great Commission
Tagged Christ, Daniel Little, god, Great Commission, History of New England
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Independence: Disorder in a Democracy
In today’s day, we are confronted with disorder, almost chaos and anarchy at times. How do we bring order out of a disorderly situation? The concluding years of the American Revolution in the 1780s provides us with an example. The … Continue reading
Posted in American History, books, Christianity, God's Providence, Government
Tagged Biography, books, Constitution, god, history, Providence
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The Mysterious Mr. Lee
Almost 200 years ago, in 1819, a scientist from England, Thomas Nuttall, journeyed up the Arkansas to near this spot, the Three Forks, the confluence of the Arkansas with the Verdigris and Grand rivers. Nuttall was exploring what had been … Continue reading
Superstition and Science
In July, 1819, up the Arkansas River several score miles from here, a remarkable conversation took place that could have only happened in the Old West of cowboys and Indians. The conversation involved an Indian, but not a cowboy, rather … Continue reading
The Crisis in American Politics
What the 18th century Framers of our government feared, abuse of power and corrupt politicians taking control of our system of government, has apparently come to pass, if this election season and those who are our choices for President, are … Continue reading
Reflections on Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
I participate as a scholar through the Oklahoma Humanities Council Let’s Talk About It Oklahoma series. Last night I addressed an audience in Broken Arrow about John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The gist of my comments follow: At his … Continue reading
Posted in American History, books, General Essays
Tagged books, Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
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The American Plutarch 