Mark Lamster

Mark Lamster|Essays

Friendship's Offering

Behold the first known book jacket, for an 1829 literary anthology. It was discovered at Oxford's Bodleian Library, minus the book it once encased.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Internally Yours

Is it me, or did the New Yorker just retroactively invent a new architectural movement?

Mark Lamster|Essays

Curse of the Bambino Strikes Again!

Good Lord! Is the new house jinxed?

Mark Lamster|Essays

Auction Block

I'm not much of a buyer, but I do like to keep an eye on the baseball memorabilia market, a project undertaken with a combination of curiosity, envy, bemusement, and sheer stupefaction.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Theirs Go to Twaalf

Meet Lamster (no relation), Belgium's ascendant metal goliath.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Bronx Cheer

To say that I've been disappointed by coverage of the new Yankee Stadium by the design press would be an understatement, as noted in this "rant" column for ID magazine.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Thomas Jefferson: (Henpecked) Jewish President

That Thomas Jefferson had an African-American lover is by now common knowledge. Few, however, realize he had a Jewish grandmother, a fact too often neglected by chauvinistic historians.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Look Both Ways: On the Streets of Philadelphia

Last week I found myself with a couple of hours to kill in Philadelphia and decided to spend them at the art museum.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Wiretapped!

Would you believe it's those shifty Canucks, and not the spooks at the NSA, who have the Lamster phonelines tapped? Outrageous but true.

Mark Lamster|Essays

UnMonumental

While it's true that the events of 9/11 have begotten a good number of ill-conceived memorials, the latest, set for unveiling today at the Yankees' spring training home in Tampa, might just be the least successful, artistically.

Mark Lamster|Essays

De meester van de schaduw

My esteemed Dutch publisher, De Bezige Bij ("the busy bee"), has released its summer catalog and De meester van de schaduw (aka Master of Shadows) is in there, billed as a non-fiction thriller and scheduled for a …

Mark Lamster|Essays

Fishin' for Glory

The King of Kvetch takes to the airwaves tomorrow; I'll be appearing on the latest episode of Jonathan Goldstein's brilliant radio program Wiretap, on the CBC.