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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Arizona: Its Land and Its People by Tom Miller, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

The editor of this book is considered by many as one of the best nonfiction/travel writers in the country. Several of his books focus on the border, the Southwest, Cuba, and Latin America. He recently published his memoir, Where Was I? A Travel Writer’s Memoir about his illustrious career as a journalist, writer, and adventurer. He shared the impact of Parkinson’s on his writing, which tragically cut his life short. The editor and I share an appreciation of iconic writer Moritz Thomsen, whom Tom met in Ecuador while researching for The Panama Hat Trail, one of my all-time favorite tales, […]

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Images of America: Evergreen by John Steinle, Review and Reflections by Mark D. Walker

I consider Evergreen, Colorado, my “hometown,” although I’ve lived in many other places. I noticed that the author of this book, John Steinle, was the administrator of the Hiwan Homestead Museum, where my mother, Marion, was the head of the Busy Bee Quilters. The author was qualified to write the book, as he worked in Evergreen as a history education supervisor for Jefferson County Open Space for over 20 years. And I wasn’t disappointed, as the photographs in the book were taken from the comprehensive Jefferson County Historical Society Collection. The author points out that early settlers were drawn to […]

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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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The Will To See: Dispatches From A World Of Misery And Hope by Bernard-Henri Lévy, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

I’ve seen Bernard-Henri Lévy on PBS, Amanpour, and Democracy Now over the last few months, and my middle daughter, who studied in France, gifted me this book. I soon learned that the author is a renowned public intellectual/philosopher who has reported on human rights abuses worldwide for over 50 years. This book follows the intrepid Lévy into eight international hotspots—Nigeria; Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan; Ukraine; Somalia; Bangladesh; Lesbos, Greece; Libya; and Afghanistan—that have escaped global attention or active response. He describes an “inner compass” as motivating him to travel and report on disastrous situations like this, “for indeed, it is […]

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The Million Mile Walker Dispatch, 50 Years on the Road: A Journey from Peace Corps Volunteer to Author, April 2023

  Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, Today’s Culture Watch will focus on growing homelessness, as well as yet another tragic death of 17 Guatemalans in Mexican immigration centers on our border. My Writing and Reviews will include my latest book review in the “Wanderlust Journal,” and several articles about me in “The Westerner Magazine,” plus an introduction of several must-see movies.  What Others Are Saying, and Let’s Keep Laughing will include a quip from one of our great writers, plus an updated Calendar that highlights several international events hosted by PEN America. But first, the alumni Magazine […]

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Facing the Congo: the Modern Day Journey Into the Heart of Darkness by Jeffrey Tayler, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

I’m always attracted to any adventure delving into the “heart of darkness” in Africa. And in this case, a book inspired by Conrad’s epic trip in 1890 down the Congo River on a steamer after being appointed by a Belgian trading company. This story came to mind while floating down the Rio Dulce in Guatemala, where the dense tropical forest came up to the river’s edges, and one could hear different languages on shore (mostly Q’eqchí). But Tayler’s travel adventure is on an entirely different level as he follows the Congo River on a barge for 1,100 of the river’s […]

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Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey Into The Heart Of Darkness, by Jeffrey Tayler, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

  I’m always attracted to any adventure delving into the “heart of darkness” in Africa. And in this case, a book inspired by Conrad’s epic trip in 1890 down the Congo River on a steamer after being appointed by a Belgian trading company. This story came to mind while floating down the Rio Dulce in Guatemala, where the dense tropical forest came up to the river’s edges, and one could hear different languages on shore (mostly Q’eqchí). But Tayler’s travel adventure is on an entirely different level as he follows the Congo River on a barge for 1,100 of the […]

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Knulp: Three Tales from the Life of Knulp, by Hermann Hesse, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

I became enamored with Hesse’s work in Crested Butte, Colorado, where I managed a dozen houses that paid for my schooling at Western State Colorado University. Those were the days of “Counterculture.” The bookshelves of most of my student renters inevitably included Hesse classics like Siddartha, Demian,  The Glass Bead Game, and the iconic Whole Earth Catalog—displayed in smoke-filled living rooms. By the early1970s, Hesse had become a cult figure, and in 1968, the California rock group, Steppenwolf, named after one of Hesse’s other classic books, released “Born to be Wild,” which was featured in the film Easy Rider. The […]

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Writing on the Edge: A Borderlands Reader, by Tom Miller, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

I’ve gotten to know the author over the years based on a shared appreciation of iconic writer Moritz Thomsen, whom Tom met in Ecuador. He accompanied me to the University of Arizona Library, which acquired his archives, including six boxes of materials on Thomsen that I used to research and write several articles. With Tom’s help, I’d write my anthology, Moritz Thomsen: The Greatest American Writer Nobody Knows About. Tom and I also share a love of travel and travel writing. His best-known book, The Panama Hat Trail, is one of my all-time favorites, and I was impressed to learn […]

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