Winter Arrives in North Dakota
Monday, October 30 2023
Well, I put the Airstream away for the winter. And just in time, too. It went into storage here in Bismarck on Monday, and it snowed for the first time Wednesday night.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
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
Exclusive! Inside John Steinbeck’s famous Travels with Charley Truck Camper, Rocinante
Tuesday, October 10 2023
Clay, was the featured speaker at The National Steinbeck Center’s 25th anniversary and wrangled a rare visit inside the writer’s famous rig.
- Published in Features
Theodore Roosevelt’s Literary Mastery
Tuesday, October 03 2023
Roosevelt was a serious writer and one of America’s great readers — in addition to being the 26th president of the United States, the Governor of New York, Police Commissioner of New York, a U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, and the hero of San Juan Hill.
- Published in Features
Sancho Panza and Rocinante Ride Again! Video Dispatch
Wednesday, September 27 2023
Next spring Clay will begin a two-year journey following John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley trek across America.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
A Visit to the Center(s) of the Nation
Tuesday, September 26 2023
Clay files a video report from the geographic center of the USA on the wind-swept plains outside of Belle Fourche, South Dakota.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
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
Slings and Arrows of Teaching Shakespeare
Thursday, September 07 2023
One Florida school system will only allow classroom study of excerpts from some Shakespeare plays in its high school curriculum because it is afraid they will violate the new state laws forbidding the inclusion of taboo issues in the curriculum.
- Published in Features
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