I first heard about this book from a podcast, Personal Landscapes, by Ryan Murdock, who interviewed biographer Julian Evans, “Norman Lewis: The 20th Century’s Greatest Travel Writer.” This caught my attention because Norman Lewis wrote a book about Guatemala. The podcast reveals what made this author and this book special. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ri3-amHtYGs Lewis was brought up in a bizarre family situation and didn’t have access to the education or other advantages many of the travel writers of that period had. He had an instinct to be in the right place to capture traditional ways of life on the brink of modernity, […]
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Wine Tasting in Cottonwood, Arizona & the Latest on the Guatemala Reader, Million Mile Walker Dispatch, October 2023
Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, This month, Culture Watch will include a story of one vulnerable renter evicted illegally from her home. My Writing and Reviews will focus on a gem of a book on Guatemala, as well as an update on my forthcoming book, plus a movie review. Voices in Action will include a provocative quote, a What Others Are Saying and the Calendar will be updated. First, in the spirit of getting to know the desert and our adopted state of Arizona, here are a few photos of our wine-tasting tour of Cottonwood, […]
Continue readingHow To Hide An Empire: A History Of The Greater United States by David Immerwahr, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I first learned of this book through an interview with the author on Democracy Now, which I recommend watching before or after you’ve read the book. The book is basically about two maps—one that we’ve been taught in school and another that has been ignored and rarely discussed. The term “empire” applies to other countries but rarely to the United States. Most Americans see their country as a republic born from revolution and, therefore, hostile to imperial rule, but that’s not the case, and therein lies the story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=RvlUGYvLg0s The map we’re familiar with is of the contiguous […]
Continue readingElites & Inequality: the Path to Political Disintegration & the Guatemala Reader, Million Mile Walker Dispatch, September 2023 Issue
Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, This month, I’ll provide an update on my forthcoming book, The Guatemala Reader, and the situation with the Presidential election there. In Culture Watch, we’ll look at the impact of the growth of elites and inequality in the U.S. My Writing and Reviews will include the latest book and movie reviews. Voices in Action will include a provocative quote, and the Calendar will be updated. The Guatemala Reader: I’ve decided to self-publish to preserve the 20 essays and include photographs, a map, a bibliography, and an updated version of “Democracy in Crisis.” […]
Continue readingGuatemalan 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 […]
Continue readingCoronado’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 […]
Continue readingThe 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 […]
Continue readingA 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 […]
Continue readingDemocracy to Democrazy: A Warning To All Americans by Elizabeth Graham, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
The author attended a presentation I made at the Arizona Professional Writers Group in August 2022. I also participated in a presentation she made to the same group’s “Book Club” the next month, which offered an excellent opportunity to get acquainted. Her book helped connect the dots between several circumstances around past President Trump that many Americans, including me, wondered about. According to Ms. Graham, her unique perspective is due to her heart residing in the United States while her soul lives in Russia. Graham updated the initial book Democrazy to From Democracy to Democrazy: A Warning To All Americans, […]
Continue readingThe 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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