[In] Shooting Dad, ... There were years and years when he hid out by himself in the garage making rifle barrels and I holed up in my room reading Allen Ginsberg poems, and we were incapable of having a conversation that didn't end in an argument.

We used to play a lot of two-on-two. My dad put a hoop up in our garage. We played in the winter and at least two or three times a week in the summer. It helped having three older brothers push you around. It made you stronger. They also teach you how to shoot, how to make post up moves. It was a very good thing to have three older brothers teach you the fundamentals of the game.

History is full of really good stories. That's the main reason I got into this racket: I want to make the argument that history is interesting.

Like Lincoln, I would like to believe the ballot is stronger than the bullet. Then again, he said that before he got shot.

You know you've reached a new plateau of group mediocrity when even a Canadian is alarmed by your lack of individuality.

I get younger people who watch Conan or The Daily Show, but before that it was mostly people who knew me from public radio. Those people are kind of old.