Welcome to Part Two of Mark Steyn's Passing Parade, our new audio adaptation of what seems to be many readers' favorite Steyn book. If it's not to your taste, we have plenty of lively capers in all genres over on our Tales for Our Time home page.
Debra, a First Day Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club from the mellifluous municipality of Nacogdoches, says:
No longer surprised (as I was for years), I still marvel that you continue to endear and delight all who are fortunate enough to encounter the product of your considerable gifts. Passing Parade has always been my favorite, also.
Hurrah! and thank you for this latest audio gem.
Very kind of you, Debra. David Wilson, a First Weekend Founding Member from California, agrees:
I have always enjoyed reading your obits, whether I know the subject or not. I was surprised, long ago, upon reading a collection of Ronald Reagan's speeches that I like his eulogies the most. Like him, you bring a deft hand to sketching both the broad picture of a life, and the telling detail.
That's a generous comparison, David. Speaking of President Reagan, this weekend's instalment of Mark Steyn's Passing Parade pairs two long and contrasting lives of the twentieth century: first the Royal Family's dear old Queen Mum (mother of the present Queen, last Empress of India, and inventor of the Royal "walkabout"), and then the aforementioned Gipper:
Ronald Reagan was an American archetype, and just the bare bones of his curriculum vitae capture the possibilities of his country: in the Twenties, a lifeguard at a local swimming hole who saved over seventy lives; in the Thirties, a radio sports announcer; in the Forties, a Warner Brothers leading man ...and finally one of the two most significant presidents of the American century. Unusually for the commander in chief, Reagan's was a full, varied American life, of which the presidency was the mere culmination.
To hear me read the second episode of Mark Steyn's Passing Parade, please click here and log-in. If you missed Part One, you'll find that here.
Personally autographed copies of Mark Steyn's Passing Parade are exclusively available here. If you prefer the expanded eBook edition, that can be found here - unautographed, alas, unless you'd like me to take a chisel to your Kindle.
Cathleen Tetreault, a First Month Founding Member, puts in a word for our Tales for Our Time catalogue:
Can't tell you how much I enjoy TFOT. I've had occasion to make several road trips from upstate NY to Tampa and back this winter, and your tales made the miles fly by - The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Three Men In A Boat, PSmith, Journalist, among others. I must have been quite a sight, howling with laughter all by myself in the car, while listening to PSmith ("Cozy Moments cannot be muzzled!" - I still laugh thinking about that line!).
With regard to last weekend's musings on Calvin Coolidge and North Country presidents, Cathleen adds:
By the way, although Chester Arthur was born in Fairfield, VT, he is actually buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, NY with his wife and family. His family had eventually settled in Schenectady, NY, where he attended Union College. The Albany Rural Cemetery is a beautiful 275-acre park-like cemetery where I have meandered away many a quiet morning hour.
Steady on with that "born in Fairfield, Vt" stuff, Cathleen. Until they closed the US/Canadian frontier a year ago, it was my habit to have Sunday brunch just across the border in Quebec, in the course of which journey, on the outskirts of Dunham, I would pass a sign noting proudly that the town was the "birthplace of the 21st US President Chester Arthur..."
We launched The Mark Steyn Club over three-and-a-half years ago, and I'm truly grateful to all those members across the globe who've signed up to be a part of it - from Fargo to Fiji, Vancouver to Vanuatu, Cook County to the Cook Islands, West Virginia to the West Midlands. If you've enjoyed our monthly Steyn Club audio adventures and you're looking for a present for a fellow fan of classic fiction, I hope you'll consider our special Club Gift Membership. Aside from Tales for Our Time, The Mark Steyn Club does come with other benefits:
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with yours truly, such as this coming Thursday's;
~Transcript and audio versions of The Mark Steyn Show, Mark's Mailbox, and our other video content;
~My video series of classic poetry, such as next Sunday's;
~Booking for special members-only events such as The Mark Steyn Christmas Show (if such things are ever again permitted by law);
~Priority booking for our annual Mark Steyn Cruise (see parenthesis above);
~Advance booking for my live appearances around the world (likewise see parentheses above);
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the opportunity to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - and don't forget that special Gift Membership. As soon as you join, you'll get access not only to Mark Steyn's Passing Parade but to all four dozen audio adventures in Tales for Our Time.
