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 […]
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Poverty 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 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 […]
Continue readingThe Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I decided to read this book after I saw the author promoting a fundraiser for PEN America to combat book banning. She partnered with Penguin Random House to create an unburnable version of her often-banned novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. She is depicted with a flame thrower. Margaret Atwood is among the top twenty authors banned, with three titles and fifteen bans in eleven districts. One of the positive results of book banning is that many readers will read them to find out why they’re being suppressed. She’s also an accomplished author with over fifty books translated into 35 languages. This […]
Continue readingBeloved by Toni Morrison, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
What better time to review this influential novel than the first day of Black History Month? Although a piece of fiction, it accomplishes the objective set out in the introduction, “I wanted the reader to be kidnapped, thrown ruthlessly into an alien environment as the first step into a shared experience with the book’s population—just as the characters were snatched from one place to another, from any place to any other, without preparation or defense.” She provides an unflinching look into the abyss of slavery. Published in 1987, set after the American Civil War, the novel tells of a dysfunctional […]
Continue readingKnulp: Three Tales from the Life of Knulp, by Hermann Hesse, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I became enamored with Hesse’s work in Crested Butte, Colorado, where I managed a dozen houses that paid for my schooling at Western State Colorado University. Those were the days of “Counterculture.” The bookshelves of most of my student renters inevitably included Hesse classics like Siddartha, Demian, The Glass Bead Game, and the iconic Whole Earth Catalog—displayed in smoke-filled living rooms. By the early1970s, Hesse had become a cult figure, and in 1968, the California rock group, Steppenwolf, named after one of Hesse’s other classic books, released “Born to be Wild,” which was featured in the film Easy Rider. The […]
Continue readingThe Man Within My Head by Pico Iyer, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I came across Pico Iyer while reading and reviewing Ronald Wright’s Time Among the Maya, published by ELAND Press, as he wrote the introduction. His overview was insightful and concise, and I learned he’d written over 50 such openings. Initial research revealed that he was a revered travel writer and that he’d written a book about his fascination with one of my favorite writers, Graham Greene. The book is a meditation about Graham, as well as the author. Greene is the virtual man in Iyer’s head, raising the question, what causes a particular writer to resonate in our souls? I’d […]
Continue readingThose Who Are Gone: A Novelette, by Lawrence F. Lihosit, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
Over the years, I’ve read and reviewed several of the eighteen books of fellow author and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer “Lorenzo” Lihosit. He was a volunteer in Honduras and married a lady from Mexico, and I was a volunteer in Guatemala and married a señorita from there. I used his Peace Corps Experience: Write & Publish Your Memoir to write my own, Different Latitudes: My Life in the Peace Corps and Beyond, proofed his Oral History from Madera, California, and agreed with the Madera Tribune, “The best of its kind in print. Like Volume 1, the author offers real-life stories […]
Continue readingSouth to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, by Imani Perry, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
This book is one of several I’ve been reading to understand race relations in the U.S. better and make sense of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. I was brought up in Plainfield, New Jersey, where I only saw a few Black American kids in the upper tier of classes that I was in during elementary school. Then we moved out West, and I remember turning on my television to the riots in Newark, New Jersey, which were part of the 150 riots around the country during the “Long hot summer of 1967.” Newscasts showed shattered storefronts, fires caused by arson, […]
Continue readingMillion Mile Walker Dispatch, Growing Threats to Our Freedom of Expression, August, 2022
Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, I just sent out a multimedia press release about my new book, My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road, picked up by newspapers worldwide, including several articles in daily news journals in London, Singapore, India, and Denver, among other places. http://www.freepublicitygroup.com/news/release-author-travel-writer-mark-walker-award-winning-book-saddest-pleasures-new-aug122/ September 18-24 is the Celebration of Banned Book Week, so I’m focusing on the growing threats to the freedom of expression in Culture Watch. As always, I will share My Writing, Interviews, and Reviews, which include an interview by Global TV Talk Show, Voices of the Day, What Others Are Saying, and an […]
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