I saw this over at Worldhum and had to post about it. Not only am I a major
fan of Raban’s writing, but I worked for a bit at the Seattle Weekly myself,
and so love to see them featuring local literary heroes.
The article looks at Raban’s life as a
transplanted Brit to the soggy, caffeine-saturated greenopolis of Seattle. He has become an institution there, heralded
as one of the Northwest’s greatest writers, even with the funny accent. (and for the record, it appears he hates being
known as a regional writer…which I agree with, since one of my favorite books is Hunting Mr. Heartbreak: A Discovery of
America.) And I’ve still not read, but plan to, his book Passage to Juneau. Well the interview and article here capture
Raban’s wit and orneriness. He has a new book out called Holy War, in which he examines the American political
experience from 9/11 through August 2005. No fan of GWB, you can be sure there are some sharp words for the Pres. But
knowing Raban’s writing, my guess is much of the analysis and commentary is probably spot on.