Radical Grammar

WonTone Records

Alabama Enough

Nobody ever accused Del Ray Hillian of subtlety. A native of Sand Mountain, Alabama, Hillian was raised on a steady diet of gospel hymns, Alabama football, and southern cooking. When he signed to WonTone Records in the mid-1970s, the label hoped to capture the outlaw-country energy spilling out of Texas

Coming Soon

Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You (October 1, 2025)

Street date October 7, 2025. All book descriptions provided by the publisher. Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell By Deryck Whibley Gallery Books Available in Hardcover, unabridged audio download, and ebook From his earliest days growing up in Canada, Deryck Whibley loved music and couldn’t wait to

Coming Soon

Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You (September 30, 2025)

Street date October 7, 2025. All book descriptions provided by the publisher. Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida By Gilbert King Flatiron Books Available in Hardcover, digital audio, and ebook In 1987, Leo Schofield was arrested and charged with the murder of

History

The Movie Star & The Cannibal

Did you know that Hollywood’s greatest leading man, an Academy Award winner and heartthrob of a generation, once served as a pallbearer for one of America’s most infamous cannibals? Even stranger: it happened seventy-four years after the man’s death. On June 8, 1974, in Cody, Wyoming, Robert

Book Excerpt

Book Excerpt — The Making of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Book Excerpt: The Making of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood By Jay Glennie Published by Insight Editions Hardcover “Rick, how are you doing with getting Hollywood Boulevard for me?” Quentin asked his location manager, Rick Schuler. “I’m doing well,” Schuler replied. Quentin looked at his

Point Counterpoint

Point / Counterpoint: Tylenol and Autism

The Brotherhood of Railroad Engineers: “Bring on the Tylenol” Look, we’ll level with you. We need autistic people. Always have. Who the hell else is going to memorize a 400-page timetable, show up on time, and actually like the sound of a diesel horn at 3 a.m.? Who

Coming Soon To A Bookstore Near You (September 23, 2025)

All book descriptions provided by the publisher. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive, & Untold Story By Craig Inciardi Diversion Books Available in Hardcover and ebook Craig Inciardi was a rising star at Sotheby’s, wheeling and dealing in rock memorabilia, when he got the call

Book Excerpt

Book Excerpt — These Truths: A History of the United States

Book Excerpt: These Truths: A History of the United States By Jill Lepore Published by W.W. Norton Hardcover Barack Obama had urged Americans 'to choose our better history,' a longer, more demanding, messier, and, finally, more uplifting story. But a nation cannot choose its past: it can

Current Events

Robert Redford

Robert Redford, one of Hollywood’s true icons, has died at 89. For more than half a century he embodied the golden era of American cinema, shaping not just what movies looked like, but how America saw itself. Redford’s career spanned genres, but time and again he returned to

Books

Coming Soon To A Bookstore Near You (September 16, 2025)

All book descriptions provided by the publisher. The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice By Dan Slepian — Celadon Books Available in Hardcover, ebook, audio book It wasn’t the September 11 attacks or the murders he’d investigated for the NYPD that

Politics

Where Do We Go From Here?

Most folks seem to be of two types, these days. Those who ingest too much from a 24 hour news cycle, and those who’ve cut most of it from their life. My better half tends to compartmentalize her intake, which is likely a far better way, it allows you

Coming Soon

Coming Soon To A Bookstore Near You (September 9, 2025)

All book descriptions provided by the publisher. We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution By Jill Lepore Liveright Available in Hardcover The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world but also one of the most difficult to amend. Jill Lepore, Harvard professor of

Family

Mother

My mother passed away on Tuesday, but she is not gone. After eighty-seven years on this Earth, she has moved on to whatever is next and the cliche is true that I am happy she no longer suffers the pain of this life. I am sorry for those of you

Book Excerpt

Book Excerpt — Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail  By Cheryl Strayed  Vintage Books Paperback The trees were tall, but I was taller, standing above them on a steep mountain slope in  northern California. Moments before, I’d removed my hiking boots and the left one had fallen into

Books

Red Sapphire Now Available in Paperback

Yesterday marked the paperback release of Julia Bricklin’s Red Sapphire: The Woman Who Beat the Blacklist. I read this book when it first came out in hardcover, and it floored me. Hannah Weinstein’s story is the kind that sneaks up on you; you think you’re cracking open

Music

Walter Becker

Walter Carl Becker | Feb. 20, 1950 – Sept. 3, 2017 Eight years gone, and I still don’t have the words. I was, am, and forever will be indebted to the music and the man. I’ve told parts of this story before. Someday, I hope to tell it in full.

Coming Soon To A Bookstore Near You (September 2, 2025)

All book descriptions provided by the publisher. Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds By John Fugelsang Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster Available in Hardcover, ebook, unabridged audio download For more than two centuries, the

RIP

RIP Graham Greene

Graham Greene has walked on. The Oneida First Nations actor, who was good in every role he inhabited, died this week at the age of 73. For more than four decades, Greene gave voice and weight to characters who might otherwise have been forgotten. He was nominated for an Academy

Whiskey

Whiskey Review: Hayes Parker Reserve

Hayes Parker Reserve: An Essay in Minimalism, a Mondrian in Liquid Form This evening, nestled within the leather-scented cocoon of my Bentley Continental GT, the Patek Philippe 5270G on my wrist ticking with Gregorian solemnity, I find myself confronted by a bottle whose very existence challenges the boundaries of perception:

Books

Book Review: A Most Noted Man

Azariah Wild. It’s one of the great names of the Wild West. But even most serious students of American history have either never heard of him, or have heard of him only in connection with Billy the Kid, to whom he offered a deal. In the fall of 1880,

Books

Book Excerpt — We Should All Be Birds: A Memoir

We Should All Be Birds: A Memoir By Brian Buckbee with Carol Ann Fitzgerald Tin House Books Hardcover My rescue pigeon and I found each other at the very beginning of the pandemic, when we were both dealing with crippling health problems. As time went on, he got better. As

Food

Coffee, Tea, Water? Rolls or Cornbread?

The American diner is quickly disappearing. Replaced by a world of fast food, quick casual, or gawd forbid, buffets. I got my start in the restaurant/hospitality business at seventeen. A small Italian place whose owners believed they could bring the bumpkins of Hixson actual Italian food (not just pizza

Books

Coming Soon To A Bookstore Near You (August 26, 2025)

All book descriptions provided by the publisher. No Ordinary Bird: Drug Smuggling, a Plane Crash, and a Daughter’s Quest for the Truth By Artis Henderson Harper Books Available in Hardcover, ebook, digital audiobook Artis was five when a plane crash killed her beloved father. For years, it was simply

Books

Three Views from a Brummie Warhead

Of all the industrial dystopias in the world, the post-war Birmingham, England that spawned Black Sabbath was one of the bleakest...

History

Conflict, Coffee, and Courage: Texas Jack & the Nez Perce in Yellowstone, 1877

It was supposed to be a fun summer trip to Yellowstone National Park, but then tragedy struck. And that's when Texas Jack rode in. In August of 1877, George Cowan and his wife Emma decided to spend their second wedding anniversary camping in Yellowstone Park. George, 35 years