[…] This story generally covers the biography of Russian poet and author, Boris Pasternak, and particularly his struggles with his famous novel, “Doctor Zhivago,” a decades-long project showcasing epic Russian history that casts the individual vs. the state – a book that helped him win a Nobel Prize, which he was prevented from collecting, since the novel’s views on Soviet ways were less than flattering … Laudatory press & literary reaction in the West are also covered here, using headlines, photos & critic commentary… Along the way there are real-life Pasternak love stories apart from his novel, confrontations with Soviet authorities, CIA involvement, and more, plus new biographies, memoirs, films & research that continue to probe the Pasternak/Zhivago sagas to this day […]

[…] This “topics page” provides thumbnail sketches and links to 14 baseball stories at this website, including in-depth profiles and photos of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Sandy Koufax, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Honus Wagner, Christie Mathewson, Lou Gehrig, and others […]

[…] In the 1940s and 1950s, magazine ads from the John Hancock Life Insurance Co. used history and famous people from sports, business, politics & the arts to help burnish its reputation – such as this 1958 ad on baseball legend, Christy Mathewson… Story covers Mathewson’s career, accomplishments, product endorsements & “good guy” celebrity as well as some John Hancock history […]

[…] During the 1950s, the John Hancock Life Insurance Co. ran a series of low-keyed print advertisements that touted historic figures from the nation’s past. In 1959, one of these focused on Frederic Remington, the famous artist of the American West. This story examines that ad, Remington’s work, and the John Hancock “historical figures” advertising campaign […]

…The movie industry of the early 1900s, during the silent film era, was not the star-centered commercial enterprise it is today. Most actors, in fact, labored in obscurity. And film makers liked it that way. The film studios then were out to produce a cheap, standardized product and part of the strategy was to keep actors anonymous and low paid. But that was about to change…

In early September 2007, a rare sports trading card depicting the famous Pittsburgh baseball player Honus Wagner was sold at auction to an anonymous private collector for a $2.8 million — a record sales price.