 Author and historian Andrew Burstein’s new book is the Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving. He joins Coy Barefoot on WINA’s Charlottesville–Right Now to discuss how Irving was a giant celebrity in the first half of the 1800’s, but most historians say he’s only a minor figure. There are only a few biographies written about him, and Burstein’s book is the first since 1935. Burstein calls Irving the Benjamin Franklin of the 19th century, and says Europeans saw Irving as an American original. |