Guatemalan Journey by Stephen Connely Benz, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

I was introduced to the author by his agent, who sent me another book of his, Topographies, to review. A stellar collection of travel essays that take the reader through places as diverse as rural Wyoming, the Florida Everglades, and a train ride across the border from Romania to the former Soviet Union. https://millionmilewalker.com/2020/06/book-review-non-fiction-topographies/ While researching my forthcoming book, The Guatemala Reader, I was delighted to learn that he’d written a book similar to this entitled Guatemalan Journey. Identical to my Peace Corps experience there, he spent two years as a Fulbright Scholar doing the day-to-day activities and dealing with […]

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Coronado’s Quest: The Discovery of the American Southwest by Arthur Grove Day, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

  I share a fascination with Arthur Grove Day, for the Southwest, with its mix of Native American and Spanish cultures in the desert’s spectacular but harsh environment. He begins this spectacular history with, The American southwest, that region of sunlit mesas and deep-shadowed canyons, of snow-topped continental rooftrees of rock, of sandy flats and high piney parks, is a land that has never been conquered. It is called the Coronado Country.  He published this book in May 1940 when he was at Stanford University to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Coronado’s journey, explored many years before the English colonies […]

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The Million Mile Walker Dispatch, August 2023 Issue: The Making of The Guatemala Reader

  Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, This month, I’ll reveal the secrets of making my forthcoming book, The Guatemala Reader, which is especially timely given the watershed events following the Presidential elections. In Culture Watch, I’ll tell how one teacher and her daughter organize a Summer Spanish Camp for the grandkids while some State officials try to eliminate bilingual education. I’ll share the latest Arizona Authors Association newsletter in My Writing and Reviews. Voices in Action will include a provocative quote and an updated Calendar. Although recognition of My Saddest Pleasures as the 2023 recipient of the […]

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End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration by Peter Turchin, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

I am a history buff, but Peter Urchin is unlike most historians. His background is as an evolutionary biologist studying lemmings and mice. Analyzing the complexities of the natural world allows him to understand the most complex systems of human society. He predicted the turbulence of 2020, which included outbreaks of political violence that the U.S. hadn’t experienced in years, and most interestingly, he’s expecting another crisis in 2024. He identifies several harbingers of societal crisis, including “elite overproduction,” and analyzes examples of this phenomenon throughout history. One example was the 2016 Presidential primary, which included 17 major candidates, and […]

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A Finger of Land on an Old Man’s Hand: Adventures in Mexico’s Baja Wilderness, by Earl Vincent de Berge, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

I met Earl and his wife, Suzanne, several years ago over lunch in Phoenix, discussing fundraising strategies for an NGO they set up in Guatemala, “Seeds for a Future,” which provides training to impoverished rural women on the South Coast. I soon learned that we shared a love and appreciation of Guatemala and the Desert Southwest and that Earl was also a writer and, in his case, a poet. I was surprised to learn that he started writing as far back as 1959 and is publishing an autographical novel laced with poetry and photos about his adventures as a young […]

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The Million Mile Walker Dispatch, July 2023, Best Travel Book & Poverty by America

Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, I want to reflect on the meaning behind my latest book being named by the Peace Corps Writers Award as the Best Travel Book. Culture Watch will introduce a compelling book by Matthew Desmond and then explain why Phoenix feels like the “canary in the mine,” as triple-digit temperatures have been the norm for 26 days. I’ll share my column in the Arizona Authors Association newsletter in My Writing and Reviews. Voices in Action will include a provocative quote from author Matthew Desmond, and I’ll end with an updated Calendar.  My Saddest […]

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Hey Buddy! Portraits of Friends by Lawrence F. Lihosit, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

Lihosit and I were contemporaries in the Peace Corps in Central America and both married women south of the border. Still, I didn’t connect with him until I became a writer after my international development career ended. Lihosit has written 19 books so far, and I’ve delighted in reading and reviewing several of them. I even used his book on writing and publishing a memoir to write my first book, Different Latitudes.  After all he’s seen and done over the years, these memorable descriptions of his friendships seem a perfect time as he dedicates his book “For the Next Generation.” […]

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Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders by Jason L. Riley, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

The growing misinformation, jargon, polemics, and hate language around the crucial issue of immigration warranted a qualified, conservative commentator to write about the subject. The author of this book is a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board and has appeared on Fox News and Hannity & Colmes. The author puts immigration in the U.S. into a historical perspective. He points to conservative hero President Ronald Reagan in responding to the arguments that immigrants depress wages, displace workers, and boost crime and disease while posing a threat to national security, which runs counter to the precepts of free trade. […]

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Reflections on the Passing of a Fellow Travel Writer & the 200th Anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, The Million Mile Walker Dispatch, May 2023 Issue

  Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, Today I’ll start with a special homage to a fellow freelance and travel writer recently passed on.  Culture Watch will focus on the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine and its impact on our relations with our neighbors to the south and our own Native American neighbors.  My Writing and Reviews include reflections on the demise of my favorite literary journal and my latest book review about my hometown of Evergreen, Colorado, and The Will To See, by a French philosopher.  I’ll also share the classic scene with Ernest Hemmingway in […]

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A Homage To Travel, Freelance Writer, Tom Miller, by Mark D. Walker

Tom Miller has spent years writing about the Americas, Africa, and Spain. His many books have been uniformly praised, and as a freelance writer for more than fifty years, he has been, as he puts it, “successfully unemployed.” Our paths crossed after I read an article in the Peace Corps Worldwide blog on February 18, 2018, entitled, “Tom Miller seeks writer for Moritz Thomsen book (Ecuador)”. Miller goes on to say: One night over 35 years ago, I met Moritz Thomsen, a writer, and former Peace Corps Volunteer. This occurred in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, where Thomsen had served. His account […]

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