Dear Colleagues and Fellow Writers from Around the World, That’s right—I’m responding to requests to expand my second book with new stories. I’ll also provide highlights of Desert Nights, Rising Stars writing conference. In Culture Watch a few words on why Arizonans are missing a representative in Congress. In What Others Are Saying some commentary from readers and a special book review in What We’re Reading and Why about one of my favorite places, Sierra Leone as well as an important announcement in the updated Calendar. Although the response to my book was positive, a growing number of readers complained […]
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My Latest Journey to Guatemala: With a Granddaughter! And a New Chapter for the Million Mile Walker Dispatch, July edition 2025
Dear friends and fellow travelers from around the world, Anna, Mark and our tour guide, Juan One of the highlights of my recent trek to Guatemala with my twenty-one-year-old granddaughter Anna was birdwatching for some of the 700 bird species at the Finca San Cayetano, at the foot of the Volcanoes of Fuego and Acatenango. We saw the colorful, green parrots as well as exotic birds with strange, long tails (our altitude was too low to see the elusive quetzal). Volcanoes El Fuego and Acatenango By far, the most exciting part of the trip was the 5.7 earthquake that […]
Continue readingReader Views Book Review of The Guatemala Reader, October, 2024
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness… Charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. This quote by Mark Twain, from The Innocents Abroad, well sums up “The Guatemala Reader: Extraordinary Lives and Amazing Stories.” Mark D. Walker’s compelling collection of essays shines a light on a country many of us in the Western world know little about. Through these essays, Guatemala emerges as a complex nation shaped by diverse ethnicities and a painful history of exploitation. Yet within these realities a vital and intelligent people […]
Continue readingThe Vanishing Point: Stories by Paul Theroux, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I’ve read and reviewed the last seven books from the “Dean of Travel Writing,” Paul Theroux. I wrote my latest book, My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road, in honor and appreciation of Theroux and another travel writer, “who personally knew and was inspired by Moritz Thomsen and passed their enthusiasm on to me.” Thomsen wrote the Peace Corps experience classic, Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle. Theroux’s book, The Tao of Travel, celebrates 50 years of travel writing and inspired my series, “The Yin & Yang of Travel.” Theroux is probably the most prolific of the Returned Peace Corps writers, with […]
Continue readingMidwest Book Review of The Guatemala Reader: Extraordinary Lives & Amazing Stories by Mark D. Walker
The Guatemala Reader–Extraordinary Lives and Amazing Stories Mark D. Walker Contact Email: mark@millionmilewalker.com The Guatemala Reader: Extraordinary Lives And Amazing Stories: Walker, Mark D.: 9798990236622: Amazon.com: Books Synopsis: Guatemala is a country with a complex history, rich culture, and diverse political landscape. This exciting book offers you a unique perspective to explore this country’s unique tapestry of everyday life through descriptive words and passages. Throughout the pages, this book showcases the diverse and vibrant aspects of Guatemala’s culture and history, and our latest addition to our collection will particularly intrigue you. This author brings in-depth facts and pictures that […]
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