Solitude & Company: the life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez told with help from his friends, family, fans, arguers, fellow pranksters, drunks and a few respectable souls. By Silvana Paternostro Reviewed by Mark D. Walker I picked up this book in search of a similar presentation of a writer’s life to a book I’m working on, The Moritz Thomsen Reader to strengthen my proposal to attract a publisher. Moritz wrote Living Poor, and my book will be an anthology of the writers who knew him best. And “Gabo” is one of the great writers of Latin America recognized with the […]
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Million Mile Walker Dispatch, The Yin & Yang of Travel: Post COVID-19, July Edition
Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, This month I’ll focus on my recent post-covid trip through the Southwest, which became more than just an adventure. I’ll also provide an update on and my latest article from “Revue Magazine,” and provide the latest Voice of the Day, What Others Are Saying, Calendar. Just click on the poster above for my latest Million Mile Walker Review: What We’re Reading and Why, which you can find on pages 14-16 of the Arizona Authors Association Newsletter. Finally, the open road . . . After hunkering down for nearly a year and a half, we emerged from the wilderness of the pandemic […]
Continue readingCities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest by Douglas Preston, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I found this book while researching plans for my first road trip in over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic had changed my view on how and where to travel and I decided to focus on the history of the Native American groups in the Southwest. I knew of the author after reading an amazing story of his search of an ancient civilization in the jungles of Honduras, The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story. And this book was like another epic equestrian journey I’d read about recently, Tschiffely’s Ride: Ten Thousand […]
Continue readingMillion Mile Walker Dispatch: Democracy Under Siege, The June Edition
Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, The January 6 attempted take over of the US Congress in an attempt to change Presidential results bore to the world the growing deterioration of democratic institutions and traditions here which will be the focus of this month’s Dispatch. I’ll have a few announcements and an update on our documentary film and as always include basic segments such as Culture Watch, My Writing / the Documentary & Book/Movie Reviews . We’ll look to Voice of the Day for inspiration, some comic relief with Just Keep Laughing and we’ll check in with What Others Are Saying. Just click on the poster above for an update […]
Continue readingMonkey Boy by Francisco Goldman, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
The Long Night of White Chickens was my introduction to Francisco Goldman, the author who I selected to review due to his connections to Guatemala, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Though born in Boston, his mother is a Catholic Guatemalan, his father Jewish American, so his life started off with an intriguing combination of influences. The book is a tense, almost surrealistic detective story that opens windows on the Latin American reality of State Sponsored assassinations, marabunta youth gangs and organized crime. His next book, Say Her Name, is an evocative story of love and loss between […]
Continue readingMillion Mile Walker Dispatch, “The US in an Age of Constant War,” May 2021
The U.S. In an Age of Constant War Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, As the U.S. continues to depend on military solutions to deal with an ever-growing number of problems locally and around the world, militarization will be the focus of this month’s Dispatch. Basic segments will include the Culture Watch, My Writing the Documentary & Book/Movie Reviews. We’ll look to Voice of the Day for inspiration, and for some comic relief, with a new Just Keep Laughing when that’s all we can do, as well as What Others Are Saying. Just click on the poster above for my latest book reviews in “The Million Mile Walker Review: What We’re […]
Continue reading“Crossing Borders, Building Bridges: A Journalist’s Heart in Latin America, by Maria E. Martin, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I first became aware of the author at a “Peace Corps Connect” conference in Austin, Texas in 2019 where she was on a panel on “Crossing Borders” with several experts on immigration including the Guatemalan filmmaker, Luis Argueta. Recently, I heard her program on immigration in Guatemala, which aired on the public radio program “Reveal.” I contacted her once I learned that she was the head of the “Gracias Vida Media Center” in Antigua, Guatemala, which was when I learned about her new book, which was published by Conocimientos Press. This book is an inspiring account of the author’s work […]
Continue reading“The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I initially came across this book after listening to several interviews with the author and realized that her focus on how racism affects all Americans was consistent with what we’ve learned about the consequences of the COVID pandemic, where the majority of developing countries are unable to access the vaccine, despite none of us being safe until everyone is vaccinated. And the consequences of ignoring the plight of so many Central Americans forced to flee their homes to head north in search of safety and a decent quality of life. The author embarks on a deeply personal journey across the […]
Continue readingMillion Mile Walker Dispatch, Spring Edition, Reckoning with Mass Incarceration, April, 2021
Reckoning with Mass Incarceration Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, Spring has sprung and the desert is blooming in the Valley of the Sun! And with it – allergies, but it is a fair trade off. Now that the Minneapolis police officer has been charged with killing George Floyd in a historic case, it’s an appropriate time to analyze the impact our justice system has on the rest of society as part of Culture Watch. My Writing & Book Reviews will include several books and a movie. We’ll look to Voices of the Day, for inspiration as well as What Others Are Saying. Culture […]
Continue readingHalfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the After life of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
One of the stories often hidden from public view with tremendous consequences is the astonishing size of our country’s incarcerated population at 2.3 million while another 20 million live with a felony record. That does not include the 555,000 locked up in the U.S. who have not been convicted of a crime. I heard an interview of the author and decided this book would be a good place to dig into this grave reality. Reuben Miller knows the issues from first-hand experience. He was a chaplain at the Cook County Jail in Chicago and is now a sociologist studying […]
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