The author of more than twenty books and a revered contributor to numerous national publications, Charles Bowden (1945-2014) used his keen storyteller's eye to reveal both the dark underbelly and the glorious determination of humanity, particularly in the borderlands between the United States and Mexico. In America's Most Alarming Writer, key figures in his life-including his editors, collaborators, and other writers-deliver a literary wake for the man who inspired them throughout his forty-year career.

Part revelation, part critical assessment, the fifty essays in this collection span the decades from Bowden's rise as an investigative journalist through his years as a singular voice of unflinching honesty about natural history, climate change, globalization, drugs, and violence. As the Chicago Tribune noted, "Bowden wrote with the intensity of Joan Didion, the voracious hunger of Henry Miller, the feral intelligence and irony of Hunter Thompson, and the wit and outrage of Edward Abbey." An evocative complement to The Charles Bowden Reader, the essays and photographs in this homage brilliantly capture the spirit of a great writer with a quintessentially American vision. Bowden is the best writer you've (n)ever read.

About the Author
Bill Broyles, a research associate at the University of Arizona's Southwest Center, is coauthor of Among Unknown Tribes, Desert Duty, and Sunshot. Bruce J. Dinges is retired director of publications and editor of the Arizona Historical Society's Journal of Arizona History. He is the author of numerous articles and editor of several books on southwestern and Civil War history.

Reviews
[Charles Bowden's] life and work are celebrated in this essential collection of 50 reflections and appraisals contributed by writers, collaborators and fellow desert rats whose lives were changed when they intersected with his...Dip in anywhere, at your leisure; you cannot fail but to come away inspired. * Pima County Public Library, "Southwest Books of the Year" *
Bowden's impact, both on Southwest letters and on the national conversation about the borderlands, is clearly evident in this collection of 50 essays...[America's Most Alarming Writer] is not simply a recounting of shared incidents in an eventful life, nor is it just an assessment of a remarkable body of work. Importantly, it is a revealing document about a fiercely driven investigative journalist's relentless pursuit of the truth in the face of a society too willing to look the other way. * Arizona Daily Star *
In America's Most Alarming Writer, the best essays are those that don't idolize or indulge our compulsion to honor the dead. * High Country News *



Book Information
ISBN 9781477319901
Author Bill Broyles
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint University of Texas Press
Publisher University of Texas Press
Weight(grams) 567g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 33mm