Freelance
Since 2001, I’ve spent much of my time as a freelance writer. Aside from writing books, book reviews, blurbs, scholarly articles and book chapters, I consider myself a journalist, having published articles and essays in selective national-international platforms such as The Atlantic, New York Times, Smithsonian, and The Conversation, My forthcoming book for Princeton University Press The Walden Experiments, a series of essays written in journalistic style. My pieces for The Conservation have been picked up by many other outlets, notably the PBS News Hour. In 2023, my Smithsonian essay on New England’s stone walls was selected for the History News Network’s list of “Best History Writing for 2023.” In 2025, I co-authored with Robert Gross for the special issue of The Atlantic, “The Unfinished Revolution.”
Opinion Columnist
For 15 years, I was regular contributor to The Hartford Courant, the state’s flagship and capitol-city daily, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. For the first year, 2003, I was an essayist and member of their Board of Contributors to Place, a special Sunday section. From 2004-2008 I was a weekly columnist, and from 2004-2018 wrote bi-weekly columns.
Link to List of 450 Op-Ed Columns.
Since then, my main outlet has been the Wall Street Journal, where I write an average of two essay book reviews per year.
Essayist
In February 2003, I was invited to join the Hartford Courant’s Board of Contributors to Place, a special essay commentary section being launched to help solidify the region’s “sense of place.” Within a year, and after eleven essays, I had become the most frequent contributor. I kept contributing after Place ended.
Link to List of Hartford Courant Essays
