When I ordered my last group of remaindered books from Edward R. Hamilton, I included one called “Death of the West,” thinking it had to do with environmentalism. I hadn't noticed that the author was…
Posts published in “Essays”
1963. August 1st, San Francisco North Beach. I met up with a guy named Sky King. He wore all black and a long cape with a stiff Victorian collar. His hair was black, curling down…
My dear friend and late Nation colleague Andrew Kopkind liked to tell how, skiing in Aspen at the height of the Vietnam War, he came round a bend and saw another skier, Defense Secretary Robert…
It all started out because I'm married to a man who likes long train trips. Really long train trips. In the past five years we've traveled 17,000 miles criss-crossing the US seeing our nation from the window…
Let's not mince words. Were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. alive today, he would be at risk for being imprisoned indefinitely, without charges or access to legal counsel, as an "enemy combatant." He would be…
I sometimes think the greatest thing we got from Puerto Rico was Johnny Diaz. Of course, there was Raul Triaz. He was and still is (as far as I know) a wonderful Puerto Rican. But…
“I can’t believe it,” Gooch said, after swinging open the polished door to his hotel room. “Imagine you and me, both right here.” I hadn’t seen Gooch in a long-assed time. Not since back in…
The big Yurok — 6’5”, 270 pounds — standing for the first time in the light rain on the high bluff over Requa which overlooks the merger of the Klamath River and the Pacific Ocean…
One thing people never seem to get tired of is wondering what evil forces are at work behind the scenes that shape the reporting of local news events in our village newspapers. Any controversial subject…