DIARIST
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES / NATIONAL IMPACT
Michael ONeal
Member For
1 year 28 weeks
BIOGRAPHY
The shady world of Civil War espionage comes to life in Michael J. O’Neal’s recently published novel, Crazy Bett. Based on historical events, it tells the story of Elizabeth Van Lew, who spied for the Union while living in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia—and got away with it by posing as a madwoman, as “Crazy Bett.”
“The novel has something for everyone,” says O’Neal, a regular contributor to Red Country. “There’s spying, secret codes, intrigue, action, comedy, and a bit of a love story. Elizabeth Van Lew was a colorful woman of enormous courage and conviction. She and her underground network played a key role in bringing the Civil War to a close.”
Vital war intelligence flows into Crazy Bett’s Richmond mansion—and out in coded messages secreted in bodices or the boots of couriers. Aiding her are a clerk she’s placed in the brutal Libby Prison, where Union prisoners of war are held, and African American Union loyalists, including an ex-slave who works undercover as a servant in the Jefferson Davis White House.
Through the efforts of Crazy Bett and her network, Union prisoners make a dramatic escape to safety—but not before one, the rakish Captain Harry Howard, loses his footing and falls for Josey Holmes, one of Crazy Bett’s associates. As the war descends into a street brawl, plots and counterplots threaten to ignite antiwar revolution in the North. Under Crazy Bett’s guiding hand, and despite her own grave doubts about the wisdom of her actions, characters adopt disguises or pose as double agents to thwart conspiracy—including a plot to kidnap Abraham Lincoln.
Michael J. O’Neal, who holds a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, lives in Moscow, Idaho, where he writes a regular editorial column for the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and has published widely on historical topics.
Readers can purchase the book at www.crazybett.com (or on Amazon). It can also be downloaded (or sampled) as an e-book at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/609.
Diary Entries
“Journalism” descends to smirky adolescence
By Michael O'Neal | 04/30/09
The intellectual dry rot of the left is alternately risible and infuriating. In the wake of the April 15 Tea Parties attended by hundreds of thousands of Americans all across the country, the left, particularly in the media, was faced with a conundrum. It couldn’t decide whether to be dismissive, scornful, or condescending. So many, like NPR’s Nina Totenberg, decided to be all three: “I don't know whether this [the Tea... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
Obama's Arrogant Humility
By Michael O'Neal | 04/14/09
BO didn’t have much of anything on his plate at home. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat brain drain were doing a fine job of running the country into the ground without him, and he was able to change the nation's religious orientation by satellite. Future Democrat cabinet appointees were using April to serve their apprenticeships in tax evasion. Most importantly, the presidential dog was finally appointed after Senator Ted Kennedy made to the... read more »
3 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Congressional demagogues’ fast-break offense
By Michael O'Neal | 04/04/09
The NCAA basketball tournament’s postgame press conferences are intriguing. Two or three players, usually with their coach, sit at a table to answer banal questions without themselves looking stupid. Occasionally, the coach leans in and whispers to a player, and I’m half expecting the player to look up and say, “On the advice of my coach, I’m exercising my Fifth Amendment right not to answer that question.” These... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »National |
"Black History" an outmoded concept
By Michael O'Neal | 03/21/09
Hogsheads of ink have been spilled dilating on Attorney General Eric Holder’s speech to the Justice Department staff in commemoration of Black History Month. Numerous observers have taken issue with Holder’s remark that we’re a “nation of cowards” because we avoid talking about race. Putting aside the fact that Americans talk about race all the time, one comment Holder made merits particular rebuttal: “Black history is given a... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »National |
"Green" Getting a Little Tedious
By Michael O'Neal | 03/17/09
I’m thinking that, to do something for the environment, I’m gonna buy me a Hummer. Let me explain. Indisputably, we should be all good stewards of the earth. No one wants rivers and lakes to be toilets, or the air to be fouled with pollutants. Environmental zealots, though, narcissistically wrapped up in their own sense of preciousness, take a perfectionist approach to environmental issues, which is inevitably doomed to failure. With 6-plus... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Political Insults Cut Both Ways
By Michael O'Neal | 02/28/09
In a recent letter to the editor in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, a fellow named Walter Clark declined a seat on the Obamalot bandwagon. In response, a Democratic apparatchik in Pullman mugged him in his own letter to the editor, providing readers with a lexicon of stinging insults. Clark's letter is "shocking." Clark belongs to an "ilk." He writes "nonsense"--nay, he "spews" it. He's a "Limbaugh-Lunatic" and "Kool-Aid" drinker on the... read more »
1 Comment | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
"Legacy" an exercise in back to the future
By Michael O'Neal | 02/10/09
At last, we've put behind us years of a divisive presidency in the person of a man with thin qualifications for high office who admitted he had no foreign policy experience. For reasons entirely of ideology, he launched a war in a faraway country that posed no direct threat to the United States. The war was a disaster, in no small part because of a failure to send enough troops. In the aftermath, he refused to shoulder responsibility for the war... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
So Why Would Anyone Want to Study"
By Michael O'Neal | 02/08/09
The juxtaposition of two articles on the front page of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Jan. 14) provides food for thought. And indigestion. Above the fold was an article entitled "Funding for gifted program could be in jeopardy." The article discussed the financial woes of the Pullman School District's Highly Capable Program, which provides enhanced opportunities for smart kids who wander bored through the normal curriculum. Then one's eye fell... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
Global Warming Skeptics Getting a Hearing, Maybe, Finally
By Michael O'Neal | 12/17/08
Last year, I dared on the editorial page of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News to question global warming zealotry. The response was, shall we say, demurrers from tiresome whelps who fervently believe that Mother Earth is being date-raped by Big Carbon--carbon, by the way, that fuels House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's air force jet. Oh, and that provided the fuel that produced the estimated 13,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide released at this month's UN... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
Let's Show a Little Common Sense
By Michael O'Neal | 11/29/08
After some weeks now of Very Big Issues, what with the election and the dicey economy--not to mention the return of Jack Bauer and continuing suspense over "Dancing With the Stars"--a bit of a local focus might be a good change of pace. So here goes: Pedestrians are not holier than car drivers. Neither are bike riders, not even those wearing Spandex. Come to think of it, especially those wearing Spandex. Some weeks ago, a spate of accidents... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
DIARIST
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES / NATIONAL IMPACT
Michael ONeal
Member For
1 year 28 weeks
BIOGRAPHY
The shady world of Civil War espionage comes to life in Michael J. O’Neal’s recently published novel, Crazy Bett. Based on historical events, it tells the story of Elizabeth Van Lew, who spied for the Union while living in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia—and got away with it by posing as a madwoman, as “Crazy Bett.”
“The novel has something for everyone,” says O’Neal, a regular contributor to Red Country. “There’s spying, secret codes, intrigue, action, comedy, and a bit of a love story. Elizabeth Van Lew was a colorful woman of enormous courage and conviction. She and her underground network played a key role in bringing the Civil War to a close.”
Vital war intelligence flows into Crazy Bett’s Richmond mansion—and out in coded messages secreted in bodices or the boots of couriers. Aiding her are a clerk she’s placed in the brutal Libby Prison, where Union prisoners of war are held, and African American Union loyalists, including an ex-slave who works undercover as a servant in the Jefferson Davis White House.
Through the efforts of Crazy Bett and her network, Union prisoners make a dramatic escape to safety—but not before one, the rakish Captain Harry Howard, loses his footing and falls for Josey Holmes, one of Crazy Bett’s associates. As the war descends into a street brawl, plots and counterplots threaten to ignite antiwar revolution in the North. Under Crazy Bett’s guiding hand, and despite her own grave doubts about the wisdom of her actions, characters adopt disguises or pose as double agents to thwart conspiracy—including a plot to kidnap Abraham Lincoln.
Michael J. O’Neal, who holds a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, lives in Moscow, Idaho, where he writes a regular editorial column for the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and has published widely on historical topics.
Readers can purchase the book at www.crazybett.com (or on Amazon). It can also be downloaded (or sampled) as an e-book at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/609.
Diary Entries
“Journalism” descends to smirky adolescence
By Michael O'Neal | 04/30/09
The intellectual dry rot of the left is alternately risible and infuriating. In the wake of the April 15 Tea Parties attended by hundreds of thousands of Americans all across the country, the left, particularly in the media, was faced with a conundrum. It couldn’t decide whether to be dismissive, scornful, or condescending. So many, like NPR’s Nina Totenberg, decided to be all three: “I don't know whether this [the Tea... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
Obama's Arrogant Humility
By Michael O'Neal | 04/14/09
BO didn’t have much of anything on his plate at home. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat brain drain were doing a fine job of running the country into the ground without him, and he was able to change the nation's religious orientation by satellite. Future Democrat cabinet appointees were using April to serve their apprenticeships in tax evasion. Most importantly, the presidential dog was finally appointed after Senator Ted Kennedy made to the... read more »
3 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Congressional demagogues’ fast-break offense
By Michael O'Neal | 04/04/09
The NCAA basketball tournament’s postgame press conferences are intriguing. Two or three players, usually with their coach, sit at a table to answer banal questions without themselves looking stupid. Occasionally, the coach leans in and whispers to a player, and I’m half expecting the player to look up and say, “On the advice of my coach, I’m exercising my Fifth Amendment right not to answer that question.” These... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »National |
"Black History" an outmoded concept
By Michael O'Neal | 03/21/09
Hogsheads of ink have been spilled dilating on Attorney General Eric Holder’s speech to the Justice Department staff in commemoration of Black History Month. Numerous observers have taken issue with Holder’s remark that we’re a “nation of cowards” because we avoid talking about race. Putting aside the fact that Americans talk about race all the time, one comment Holder made merits particular rebuttal: “Black history is given a... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »National |
"Green" Getting a Little Tedious
By Michael O'Neal | 03/17/09
I’m thinking that, to do something for the environment, I’m gonna buy me a Hummer. Let me explain. Indisputably, we should be all good stewards of the earth. No one wants rivers and lakes to be toilets, or the air to be fouled with pollutants. Environmental zealots, though, narcissistically wrapped up in their own sense of preciousness, take a perfectionist approach to environmental issues, which is inevitably doomed to failure. With 6-plus... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Political Insults Cut Both Ways
By Michael O'Neal | 02/28/09
In a recent letter to the editor in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, a fellow named Walter Clark declined a seat on the Obamalot bandwagon. In response, a Democratic apparatchik in Pullman mugged him in his own letter to the editor, providing readers with a lexicon of stinging insults. Clark's letter is "shocking." Clark belongs to an "ilk." He writes "nonsense"--nay, he "spews" it. He's a "Limbaugh-Lunatic" and "Kool-Aid" drinker on the... read more »
1 Comment | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
"Legacy" an exercise in back to the future
By Michael O'Neal | 02/10/09
At last, we've put behind us years of a divisive presidency in the person of a man with thin qualifications for high office who admitted he had no foreign policy experience. For reasons entirely of ideology, he launched a war in a faraway country that posed no direct threat to the United States. The war was a disaster, in no small part because of a failure to send enough troops. In the aftermath, he refused to shoulder responsibility for the war... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
So Why Would Anyone Want to Study"
By Michael O'Neal | 02/08/09
The juxtaposition of two articles on the front page of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Jan. 14) provides food for thought. And indigestion. Above the fold was an article entitled "Funding for gifted program could be in jeopardy." The article discussed the financial woes of the Pullman School District's Highly Capable Program, which provides enhanced opportunities for smart kids who wander bored through the normal curriculum. Then one's eye fell... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
Global Warming Skeptics Getting a Hearing, Maybe, Finally
By Michael O'Neal | 12/17/08
Last year, I dared on the editorial page of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News to question global warming zealotry. The response was, shall we say, demurrers from tiresome whelps who fervently believe that Mother Earth is being date-raped by Big Carbon--carbon, by the way, that fuels House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's air force jet. Oh, and that provided the fuel that produced the estimated 13,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide released at this month's UN... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
Let's Show a Little Common Sense
By Michael O'Neal | 11/29/08
After some weeks now of Very Big Issues, what with the election and the dicey economy--not to mention the return of Jack Bauer and continuing suspense over "Dancing With the Stars"--a bit of a local focus might be a good change of pace. So here goes: Pedestrians are not holier than car drivers. Neither are bike riders, not even those wearing Spandex. Come to think of it, especially those wearing Spandex. Some weeks ago, a spate of accidents... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »Whitman County (WA) |
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