I became aware of Wilkerson’s work by reading Caste and purchased the audio version of this book, which took 23 hours, but it was worth the effort. Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns is one of the more ambitious works of narrative history I’ve ever read, with a sweeping, intimate chronicle of the Great Migration told through the lives of three ordinary yet emblematic African Americans who left the Jim Crow South in search of dignity, safety, and opportunity. Published in 2010, the book reframes migration not as a demographic shift but as an act of self-liberation. I […]
Continue readingMonthly Archives: June 2026
New Chapters, Old Truths: A Dispatch on Service, Storytelling & Legacy, The Million Mile Walker Dispatch June 2026
This month’s Dispatch opens with a milestone I’ve been eager to share: the latest draft cover for my new book, a visual doorway into the stories and reckonings that shaped it. Culture Watch will highlight Paul White’s powerful SoftPower FulStories interview, where people too often forgotten take center stage; Paul Theroux’s Sir Vidia’s Shadow, a study in literary friendship and fracture, is my book review; and then I’ll highlight the haunting new series House of Spirits. I’ll close with a homily for my friend and fellow staffer Esther, whose passing reminds me why stories — and the people who carry them — matter. And as always, […]
Continue readingLiving the World Cup: Stories, Insights and 50 Tips for 2026 by Steve Kaffen, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
Like much of his work, Kaffen’s latest book is far more than a travelogue or a sports chronicle. It is a hybrid creation—part memoir, part cultural anthropology, part practical guide, and part photographic archive—built on nearly four decades of attending the world’s most watched sporting event. What emerges is a book that captures the World Cup not simply as a tournament, but as a global phenomenon that reshapes cities, cultures, and the lives of those who follow it. Kaffen’s perspective is uniquely earned: he attended his first Cup in 1986 and has since experienced the tournament in six countries, each […]
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