The Best John Steinbeck Biographies, Part I
Tuesday, June 11 2024
As Clay prepares for the second leg of his Travels with Charley journey, Russ Eagle calls out the best John Steinbeck biographies.
- Published in Books
The Heroic and Problematic Legacy of Joseph Banks
Monday, June 10 2024
I was listening to an audio biography of Joseph Banks, the great British naturalist who sailed with Captain James Cook, who made Kew Gardens in Britain, and who was the president of the Royal Society — among much else, not all so admirable it turns out.
- Published in Features
A Visit With Author Jay Parini of Middlebury, Vermont
Friday, May 17 2024
Sitting in the Airstream, Rocinante. I had a delightful interview with Steinbeck biographer Jay Parini of Middlebury College in Vermont.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Sports, Lawn Care and Fishing at Karen’s Diner — Calais, Maine
Thursday, May 16 2024
It’s too early to draw conclusions about the country’s mood, but this is what I have heard in two weeks on the road.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Age of Exploration Meets the Era of Disillusionment
Thursday, May 16 2024
I have been reading Hampton Sides’ excellent new study of Captain James Cook’s third voyage (1776-1779), The Wide, Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and The Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook.
- Published in Books
A Stop at Thoreau’s Walden Pond Near Concord, Massachusetts
Sunday, May 12 2024
Clay stops to visit Thoreau’s Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts as part of his Travels with Charley road trip.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Solar Eclipse of 2024: A View From Chaco Canyon
Monday, April 15 2024
My friend Dennis and I had the good fortune to experience the solar eclipse of 2024 at Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. We could not have chosen a better place to observe the eclipse. Chaco Canyon is more than just another example of what used to be called Anasazi sites. It was designed from the beginning to serve as a lunar and solar “clock.”
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Reading Orwell’s 1984 In 2024
Thursday, March 07 2024
The question is: how prophetic was Orwell? What does he say to us in the age of “fake news” and “alternative facts”?
- Published in Books
Fort Dilts, North Dakota — Video Dispatch
Friday, February 09 2024
Clay takes us to Fort Dilts, North Dakota, a hastily-made sod fort built in 1864 by a party of would-be gold miners to fend off attacks by the Lakota. However more perspectives to the story should be considered.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
On Oppenheimer — Video Dispatch
Monday, February 05 2024
Clay reads from an essay about Robert Oppenheimer by the author Richard Rhodes.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road