Reading the Signs and Other Itinerant Essays

These essays travel near andfar to explore landscapes of personal and cultural significance and thecommunities that inhabit them. At a time when wereexamine how policies of yesteryear shape equities in the present, award-winning writer Stephen Benz challenges readers to delve beyondwhitewashed versions of history and reassess our treatment of native people andthe environment with fresh, critical eyes. From westward expansion and ManifestDestiny to the Cold War and the Global War on Terror, Reading the Signsprods myths and provides missing context around events touched by the Americanimpulse to grab land and harvest resources--both within and beyond our shores.These essays challenge us to search for missing layers of truth and decidewhich versions of history should prevail. With a wanderingspirit and an inquisitive mind, Benz ventures around town, across country, andoverseas in search of forgotten, overlooked, or misunderstood stories. Fromrock concerts and courthouses to farm towns, battlegrounds, historical sites, and quirky museums, these "itinerant essays" revel in discovering "new wondersevery mile." Along with Topographies (Etruscan Press) and two books oftravel essays--Guatemalan Journey (University of Texas Press) and GreenDreams: Travels in Central America (Lonely Planet)--Stephen Benz haspublished essays in Creative Nonfiction, River Teeth, TriQuarterly, NewEngland Review, and other journals. Three of his essays have been selectedfor Best American Travel Writing (2003, 2015, 2019). His poems haveappeared in journals such as Nimrod, Shenandoah, and Confrontationas well as in a full-length collection, Americana Motel, published byMain Street Rag Press. Benz now teaches professional writing at the Universityof New Mexico.