“A powerful, vastly rich and moving narrative, with a cast of thousands, stretching from the 1950s to the decision of the US Supreme Court in 2015 affirming the rights of same-sex couples to marry… there is a wonderfully soft pace to the book, a sense of momentum and of something momentous… gripping... a captivating read.”
Steven VaughanTimes Higher Education
Daily Beast | Mar. 18, 2023 | For 18 months in the waning days of the idealistic early 1960s, thirteen Boston-area women were strangled and sexually assaulted. The elusive killer left behind a grotesque, ritualized crime scene, as if taunting the people who would come upon it. Bodies were left in suggestive positions. Nylon stockings or other of their personal apparel had been knotted around their necks. Some had bottles, broomsticks or other foreign objects jutting out of their bodies. Propped up against the foot of the final victim, strangled on January 4th, 1964, stood a cheery greeting card that read, “Happy New Year!”
Washington Post | Oct. 15, 2021 | One-fifth of American adults — 50 million people — suffer from chronic pain, defined as pain experienced most days or every day during the past six months. Conditions include migraines, sciatica and gastrointestinal disorders, as well as shoulder, knee and elbow pain. Back and neck pain, too, affect up to 85 percent of adults at some point in their lives and are among the most common reasons for doctor and hospital visits. Chronic pain results in more than $500 billion each year in direct health-care and disability costs and lost productivity. Roughly half a million Americans have died over the past two decades after overdosing on opioids, commonly taken in a desperate quest for pain relief.
MEDIUM | Dec. 8, 2020 | Shortly after the November election, I wrote in a newsletter to (mostly) fellow liberals that we must “stop disdaining our political opponents,” understand what makes them tick, and seek common ground. I was referring not to GOP leaders, who should be held accountable for their odious complicity with Trump, but to the 74 million Trump voters who have a wide range of reasons for their votes.