Bøger af Keith McWalter

"Befriending Ending" is a unique blend of personal memoir and philosophical essay. A beloved parent's death is the springboard for observations on the denial of death and dying in our society, and for a life-affirming vision of our individual mortality. A story of family and a provocative call to a more humane and communal acceptance of the final fate we all share, this book may change the way you think about death, loss, and being alive.

Compiled from Keith McWalter's long-running essay and opinion blog, Mortal Coil, these essays span the period from the summer of 2018 through the end of 2020. Trump, Covid, the first moon landing, the lasting rituals of family meals, the prescient genius of mid-century disaster fiction, the nature of duty, and the sudden loss of cherished places -- these are among the topics explored in these incisive meditations on life in uncertain times.

The lost-or at least severely underrated-art of the essay makes a comeback in Taking Sides: Opinions and Meditations, in which popular blogger and award-winning essayist Keith McWalter has compiled a varied cross section of his recent works. In short, easy-to-read essays, he touches on a range of current and recent events, including such controversial and politically charged topics as the Supreme Court's rulings on gay marriage, criminality versus terrorism, and the unusual course of the 2016 US presidential election. His social and political commentary, while sometimes scathing, is humorous and clever. However, in addition to covering these divisive political and social issues, McWalter also brings to the table some equally entertaining and informed opinions about writing, writers, lawyers, and the law. As both an author and an attorney, McWalter is able to zero in on the right, the wrong, and the ridiculous in each of these fields. Finally, McWalter ruminates on some more general life lessons, from the regret and grief that accompany the death of a parent to the importance of compassion and being kind to all-even an exceptionally annoying insect.

"No One Else Will Tell You" presents the lessons and longings of a long-distance father striving to sustain a relationship with his young adult daughter through a series of letter/essays on the most important and personal subjects in life: religion, sex, aging, education, work and play, and what it means to remain a family in the wake of divorce. Keith McWalter is a lawyer and writer whose essays and opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

The last great question of every long marriage-Who will die first?-has been answered for Conrad Burrell. After losing his wife to a violent accident, he discovers that he has one more lesson to learn about love from the women of his past, and the one woman he's certain he can't live without.

Compiled from Keith McWalter's long-running essay and opinion blog, Mortal Coil, the 38 short essays in this volume span the period from the presidential election of 2016 to the summer of 2018 --one of the most unpredictable periods in American social and political history. In such tumultuous times, we take our comforts where we can, and our provocations when we must. The thoughtful reader will find both here.