Citizenship | Literature
Select novels, short stories, and nonfiction on contemporary life.
Ben East’s nonfiction debut recounts how JFK’s bold experiment shaped diplomatic careers and influenced modern American diplomacy.
Read, Listen, Watch
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My father ran bread routes for Wonder most mornings. He delayed the deliveries to throw me curves and fastballs when tryouts came around. He zeroed my hands and eyes, quickened my bat to the rawhide in the pre-dawn twilight. Confident still in the afternoon, I showed for tryouts with a quick bat and hit high,…
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The calendar tells us that it’s spring. But last Monday, the night before the season’s first Little League practice, snow squalls filled the sky. Over the weekend the manager gathered us on a beautiful day for pizza and whiffle ball. Then our second practice got scrubbed for snow, a Nor’easter that eventually dumped half a…
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This requires very little comment on my part other than to say: The school system I fund through my taxes has expressed itself exactly as it should, and exactly as I would have done, if it were my call to make. This letter appears verbatim, bolded lines reflecting my emphasis. Well done, FCPS. FCPS does…
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No coffee this morning. This line instead kicked my day into gear at West Virginia’s Bill Scott Raceway: We’re gonna be at the limits of traction this morning… Limits of traction, and limits of digestion. Following the hard-braking exercises through the serpentine, I left the Crown Vic to hurl my breakfast at the woods. No…
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This month we march. This month, we show our strength by taking to the streets. This month we demand action—not thoughts, not prayers, not false heroes—we demand action to prevent another mass murder by gunfire. You will know the brave ones as we march unarmed. And you will know the cowards by their callous, pandering,…
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This morning I wrote my representatives in Congress*, remembering the words of a strident conservative who came to my book talk looking to bristle with me over guns. ‘Call them by their first name,’ he said. ‘Reminds ’em who they work for.’ He told me at the outset, ‘I’m a shade right of Scalia,’ and noted…
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I always consider it my strange good fortune to have a past life that includes making music in Joe Frawley’s basement. New Joe Frawley music: https://t.co/CMZ0y4XmNr — Joe Frawley Music (@joefrawley) February 23, 2018 Yes, in high school I’d haul my black Pearl drum kit to his house and set it up with Dan Cote…
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Why We Write We write not to be read. We write not because we have something to say, but because something must be said and needs our attention. We write to put down the tracks of our thought and, through this process, clarify our intent, to give form and understanding to our own inscrutable intuition.…
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Call them what you will—trolls, comment monkeys, sock-puppets—no-one should doubt that the hundreds of employees of the ‘Internet Research Agency’ had a sense of humor. From the Mueller indictment: On or about May 29, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, through an ORGANIZATION-controlled social media account, arranged for a real U.S. person to stand in front of…
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Last month we were treated to countless rounds of being talked down to by law enforcement from Broward County, Florida after yet another completely avoidable massacre at the hands of an American citizen exercising his right to bear an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle. ‘If you see something, say something,’ Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said…
Ben East Books 