Introducing: 

Corn-Pone ‘Pinions (Political Poems, Essays and Cartoons) by David Mook, and featuring Art by Tom O’Brien — an exploration of racism, poverty, and violence in America.

 

What do I – an extremely fortunate, old, white guy – know of these horrors that other people face daily? Admittedly, not much. Eco-Philosopher David Abram asserts that the three biggest threats to humanity and the planet are “war, greed, and indifference.” The first two confirmed that my subject matter was on target, but the third hit me like a sucker punch. I have been living comfortably indifferent, swaddled in white privilege, indifferent to racism in all its forms, indifferent to unprecedented greed and poverty, indifferent to all of our foreign perma-wars; yes, largely indifferent to all of these serious threats to the kind of society and planet I want for my grandchildren and for their children. This book is my attempt to counter the indifference that could cheat future generations out of a quality of life that we enjoy and that they deserve.

The title is from Mark Twain’s essay “Corn-pone Opinions.” Twain’s one hundred-year-old political analysis is uncannily accurate in describing the current political debate: “We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.” Now more than ever, we need to have serious conversations on these issues, and I hope this book can be a catalyst for those discussions.

Several pieces feature presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (pages 43, 47, 49).

I am a Vermont author (MFA in Writing from Vermont College) and part-time writing instructor at Castleton University. Please contact me if you are interested in making Corn-Pone ‘Pinions available to your patrons and/or holding an author event.

Thank you for your consideration.

David Mook

 

Now available for both in-store purchase and on-line orders at the following shops:

Book and Leaf, Brandon, VT

Hermit Hill Books, Poultney, VT

Northshire Bookstore, Manchester, VT

The Vermont Book Shop, Middlebury, VT

Phoenix Books, Rutland, Burlington and Essex, VT

Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, VT

The Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, VT

Mad Hatter Cafe and Gift Emporium, Poultney, VT

 

“Perhaps one of the things we pay the least attention

 to and should pay the most is our moral education.

With David Mook’s Corn-Pone ‘Pinions, we have been

 offered an eleventh-hour reprieve. Grab hold of this

 life-line and pull yourself up — before it’s too late.”

                         Burnham Holmes, Author/Educator

 

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.

  Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”   Rumi

 

“When one changes, all change.”  South African Proverb

 

Thank you for visiting my page.

You may also order a book by emailing  davidmook@aol.com with “Book order” in subject line.