One of my biggest reading disappointments ever was Edmund Morris’ biography of Ronald Reagan—and not because of the subject. ‘Dutch’ came out in 1999; Morris died in 2019. This tale may seem remote to those under forty but please hang in there. ‘Dutch’ was a controversial watershed for biography, memoir, and history, with ripple effects…… Continue reading History vs. Historical Fiction
Tag: vietnam
Prologue: The Face of The Deep
The Columbia Icefield, August, 2019… Cece Paine, Professor of Glacial Geology at the University of British Columbia, is not sure, when she crunches out of her tent in unlaced, crampon-clad boots, if a spot of bright green deep in the crevasse lit by her headlamp is not a dropped hat or mitten. She hopes it…… Continue reading Prologue: The Face of The Deep
One: Octopus
The Boston Arena, March, 1965… Otis Fletcher is used to sticky, constrained, desperate situations: man-sweat sharp with fear, arms taut, and ribs and faces entwined, high-tops scrabbling the bull’s-eye mat, not sure he can hold on one more second, or wants to. Ear guards damp grunts; thrashing masks pain (blood sometimes too, if the ref…… Continue reading One: Octopus
Two: Brothers
August, 1966… A year and a half later, all three Fletcher boys left home within days of each other: Henry to Vietnam for his second tour, Billy to start prep school up in New Hampshire, and Otis three hours west to the Berkshires to start Deden-Fisher College, his top choice despite it being all male.…… Continue reading Two: Brothers