I Was a Digital Bestseller!
Five months ago I published a short book called “Boom.” Commercially it was a bust. No news in that: Most books lose money and are quickly forgotten by all but their wounded authors. But this experience wasn’t just a predictable blow to what’s left of my...
Immigration — and the Curse of the Black Legend
COURSING through the immigration debate is the unexamined faith that American history rests on English bedrock, or Plymouth Rock to be specific. Jamestown also gets a nod, particularly in the run-up to its 400th birthday, but John Smith was English, too (he even...
A Reporter at Large, UNTRUE CONFESSIONS
Originally published in The New Yorker, December 13, 1999 P. 80 A REPORTER AT LARGE about Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion… Writer tells about empty houses in Southhampton County, Virginia, where the rebellion took place… Turner was a slave whose...
A Reporter at Large, A DEATH FOR DIXIE
Originally published in The New Yorker, March 18, 1996 P. 64 A REPORTER AT LARGE about the murder of Michael Westerman of Guthrie, Tennessee, in a racially-charged incident involving the Confederate flag… Tells how Westerman got a tattoo on his arm of the...