With today’s Supreme Court ruling rejecting affirmative action at U.S. colleges, this book becomes a must-read as the author examines the legacy of slavery in America and how history and memory continue to shape our everyday lives. Not surprisingly, this New York Times bestseller is one of the top banned books today. The author begins the book with a quote from Frederick Douglass’s “The Nation’s Problem”: Our past was slavery. We cannot recur to it with any sense of complacency or composure. The history of it is a record of stripes, a revelation of agony. It is written in characters […]
Continue readingThe Puebloan Society of Chaco Canyon, by Paul F. Reed, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
A librarian friend found this book for me in preparation for our first visit to the Chaco Canyon. As we drove down the rocky, dusty road of the south entrance, we could only be impressed by the tremendous vistas and the apparent inhospitable nature. This book places the Puebloan society in a historical perspective as part of a Medieval Historical series, the “Greenwood Guides to Historic Events of the Medieval World,” defined as a period from 500 to 1500 A.D. Chaco would peak in the mislabeled “Dark Ages,” beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire and continuing until the […]
Continue readingReflections 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 […]
Continue readingArizona: 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, […]
Continue readingImages 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 […]
Continue readingA 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 […]
Continue readingThe 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 […]
Continue readingPoverty By America, by Matthew Desmond, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
My interest in the impact of poverty was heightened when I joined the Peace Corps and began working in countries worldwide to alleviate suffering. And after thirty years, when I spent more time in the U.S., like the author, I was haunted by how the wealthiest nation in the world had so many people living in poverty. One in every nine people in America is officially poor, and one in eight children—why do we tolerate so much suffering amid so much wealth? According to Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond, there are many reasons, but the big one is that the rest […]
Continue readingThe 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 […]
Continue readingFacing 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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