Richard Norton Smith, C-SPAN's "in-house historian"

Richard Norton Smith, who visits us on Thursday, 11/20, talks to the TU's Paul Grondahl about what it was like to wrestle with writing a monumental biography of Nelson Rockefeller for 14 years:

"His long slog on Rockefeller was less a case of writer's block and more of information overload, as he kept uncovering fresh material and boxes of Rocky's previously sealed archives were made available to Smith. Stressed to the max about the ballooning biography, Smith suffered two heart attacks on Nov. 30, 2010. 'I can't remember four or five days. Luckily, a neighbor got concerned and came to my apartment,' he recalled. 'He got me to the hospital right away, and they discovered I'd had a heart attack and there was a blood clot in my heart. I had another heart attack the next day.'"

More in the Times Union:  http://www.timesunion.com/living/article/A-Rocky-story-5891118.php

More about the upcoming events with Smith:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/smith_richard_norton14.html

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Mourning Joe Persico, One of the Finest Writers in the Region

Joseph E. Persico, acclaimed historian and biographer, dies at 84

Ex-Rockefeller aide's work noted for its humanity

Paul Grondah, Times Union

By Paul Grondahl

Joseph E. Persico of Guilderland, an acclaimed historian and biographer and former chief speechwriter for Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, who published 12 books, including the autobiography of Gen. Colin Powell for which he was the ghost writer, died Saturday at St. Peter's Hospital after a long illness. He was 84.

Persico, son of glove makers, rose from a blue-collar upbringing in Gloversville. He graduated with a bachelor's degree and a double major in English and political science from the New York State College for Teachers in 1952 (now the University at Albany).

More in the Times Union:  http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Joseph-Persico-acclaimed-historian-biographer-5724215.php

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