Earlier today my wife Denise Kiernan revealed the cover of her next book, which is called Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution. For those you asking, “Well, what’s it about?” I respond, “That’s what it’s about.”

In 2026 the United States will mark its 250th anniversary, which is linked to July 4, 1776, the date that most Americans associate with the nation’s founding. Denise’s book arrives in bookstores June 23, 2026, and she’s planning a number of bookstore and speaking events in what will probably shape up to be a crazily patriotic year.

I have a bit more to share with you, but first…ta-da, here’s the cover…

Next year is the 250th anniversary of the United States, which means it is necessarily also the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence. I know a lot about that document, thanks to the research I did several years ago to write a book about the signers of that hallowed document. Today, I’m talking about a lesser-known individual associated with the Declaration—Timothy Matlack—the man who actually hand-wrote the document that all the Congressmen signed…

I hope you have a beautiful Fourth of July weekend, wherever you live and however you intend to celebrate the 249th Birthday of the United States of America. We have a lot of things planned for this long weekend, most of it involving work in the garden. By this time of year, everything is growing wildly and needs to be harvested or weeded. My job every year is picking the blueberries and preserving them in such a way that we can make copious jars of jam later in the season…

For a guy who is not a designer, I sure am obsessed with fonts. I have been since the late eighties, when a designer I worked with at Scholastic enjoyed pointing out how much choosing the right typeface could immediately alter or enhance an article I was preparing for publication.

I go font shopping from time to time to help me nail the look of a particular project Denise and I are working on on the side.

My go-to websites are myfonts and Fontspring, but I have been known to buy direct, which is how I came across the work of Brian Wilson, a typeface designer and novelist who is renowned…