THE DIRT ON “AMERICAN DIRT”

By David Perlstein | January 31, 2020

They’re at it again. The new novel American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins has drawn lots of attention. Following a major publicity campaign by Flatiron Books, a division of Macmillan, American Dirtreceived a number of terrific reviews. Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club (Flatiron published four of Oprah’s books), the ultimate U.S. sales driver. Then…

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OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE

By David Perlstein | April 8, 2016

Merle Haggard died on Wednesday. I first listened to the Country Music Hall of Famer when I lived in San Antonio. One of his greatest hits stays with me—particularly in this election season. I’m not a big country music fan, but country tunes still tickle me. As a writer, I appreciate that country lyrics are…

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