A Long, Long Row
“Hontar: We must work in the world, your eminence. The world is thus.
Altamirano: No, Señor Hontar. Thus have we made the world. Thus have...
Building the Ownership Society
This is, at last, the last chapter of my new book, Equity and Equilibrium: The Political Economy of Distributism. I post it here because...
Novel, Myth, Reality: An Anatomy of Make-Believe
For Maureen Drdak,
If she will accept it as part of our good conversation.
Devon, PA. I shall be returning to the following subject frequently in the next...
The Reluctant Southerner: Reflections on Home and History
Moorpark, CA. In October of 1997 I attended the Southern Historical Association’s convention in Atlanta because I wanted to hear Paul Conkin’s presidential address,...
You’ve Got Mail. But Not For Long.
Claremont, CA. Tomato, the main character in Erika Lopez’s terrifically kooky Flaming Iguanas, loves the post office. She says, to be precise, that she...
News From Nowhere
Alexandria, VA
I'm late to this, but have been spending the last few weeks of the summer break gorging on episodes of David Simon's acclaimed...
Would Natty Bumpo Have a Crisis on his Hands if his...
Washington, CT. The unanimously anointed Soothsayer of the American Republic, Alexis de Tocqueville is deservedly credited with divining the essential and lasting traits of...
Some Permanent Things
Devon, PA. Here is a poem of mine that has just appeared in the poetry journal The Dark Horse and on Ernest Hilbert's ever...
Our CSA
Gretel Kauffman, 15, who is gonna be ten times the writer her old man ever was, reports from the magnificent Porter Farms on thebatavian.com:...
Elmer Kelton, RIP
BURNED--OVER DISTRICT, NY---Elmer Kelton, the superb Texas novelist, died Saturday. In 2006 I visited Mr. Kelton in his San Angelo home; herewith, via the...