BOOKS
The Western Flyer: Steinbeck’s Boat, The Sea of Cortez, and the Saga of Pacific Fisheries
Tuesday, November 28 2023
Russ Eagle reviews Kevin Bailey’s book about the legendary boat made famous by Steinbeck.
- Published in Books
The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
Sunday, October 29 2023
With the death of Franklin Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Harry S. Truman became one of the nation’s most unlikely presidents. Truman, with little preparation, was thrust into the presidency amid the most tumultuous four months in world history.
- Published in Books
The Final Witness: A Kennedy Secret Service Agent Breaks His Silence After 60 Years
Monday, October 23 2023
The minute I heard that former Secret Service Agent Paul Landis was publishing a book entitled The Final Witness, I pre-ordered it. It arrived yesterday, and I read it in a single evening.
- Published in Books
Clay’s Reading List: The Buffalo and American West
Monday, September 18 2023
With Ken Burns’ new film The American Buffalo airing October 16 on PBS, Clay recommends a few books on the bison, Great Plains and American West.
- Published in Books
Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne
Friday, September 01 2023
Katherine Rundell’s new book on the great English writer and cleric, John Donne is, among other things, a work of evangelism. Rundell says one of her goals is to get everyone to read some of Donne’s poetry. I could not agree more.
- Published in Books
The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America
Sunday, July 09 2023
In 1994 San Francisco journalist Mike McIntyre got it into his head to try to cross the county with no money. No money whatsoever. With a borrowed 50-70 pound backpack, he traveled literally penniless for 4,223 miles from San Francisco to Cape Fear, North Carolina. That's fourteen states, 82 rides, five laundry loads, and one golf round.
- Published in Books
Lands of Lost Borders
Sunday, June 04 2023
Because I am gearing up for years of travel across America, especially the West, I am reading books of adventure travel. I have reread Travels with Charley of course, and the published journal of John Wesley Powell’s 1869 descent of the Green and Colorado Rivers.
- Published in Books
Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water
Monday, May 29 2023
Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert has been around for a long time — since 1986 — but it continues to be the best introduction to the subject of Water in the West.
- Published in Books
The Life and Times of Sitting Bull
Sunday, March 12 2023
The Lance and The Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull by Robert M. Utley, first published in 1994.
Bismarck, N.D. — I’m reading a biography of Sitting Bull (1831 – 1890).…
- Published in Books
The Luxury of Reading the Lewis and Clark Journals
Tuesday, February 28 2023
Gary Moulton edited a definitive thirteen volume set of the Lewis and Clark expedition journals.
Over the Christmas holidays, because I was alone this year, I decided to read all the journals of Lewis and Clark, John Ordway, and Patrick Gass for the return journey of the Corps of Discovery, from March 23 to September 23, 1806.…
- Published in Books