BOOKS
The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West. Viking Press (cloth), May 2004.
Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad, Viking Press (cloth), November 1999. Main selection, Book of the Month Club; selection, History Book Club, Quality Paperback Book Club. New England Historical Association Book Prize, 2000. Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History), Bancroft Prize. New York Times Book Review Notable Book, 2000.
The College on the Hill: A Browser's History for the Bicentennial, Middlebury College Press (cloth), October 1999.
Whose Woods These Are: A Group Portrait of Celebrated Writers in Community -- The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, 1926-1992, The Ecco Press, 1993.
Sitting In Darkness: Americans in the Philippines, Houghton Mifflin (cloth), 1984; Penguin (paperback, with new material), 1986.
Aftershocks: A Tale of Two Victims, Methuen (cloth), 1980; Penguin (paperback, with new material), 1986.
Patalano, G. R., Behind the Iron Horse (edited and with Foreword by D.H.B.), Vermont Historical Society/Vermont Labor History Society, 1997.
At an Elevation: On the Poetry of Robert Pack (edited with Sydney Landon Plum), Middlebury College Press, 1994.
In Progress:
Untitled work on 19th Century Naval Exploration, contracted to Viking Press.
Best Be Getting Home: Essays on Writers, Writing, and Place -- one-third completed.
DeVoto's New England: Regional Essays from the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian, anthology in progress.
MAGAZINE ARTICLES
"Bookends," essay about Edmund Wilson, Alexander Woollcott, and William "Count" Basie, in progress.
""Camden Bound," personal/literary essay about Camden, NJ. (Walt Whitman deathplace; present author's birthplace). Prairie Schooner, Fall 1998. Reprinted in Best of Prairie Schooner: Essays (2000).
"The House on Hemenway Hill," essay, Prairie Schooner, Winter 1996. Reader's Choice Award, 1997. Among year's top 100 essays selected by series editor Robert Atwan for consideration in Best American Essays 1997.
"Asa Whitney: America's Pioneer Railroad Promoter," in circulation.
"His: Mulch Ado About Nothing" (Mowing Lawns) (essay), Glamour, August 1996.
"His: Hating Sports," (essay), Glamour, March 1995.
"A House and a Household: Sinclair Lewis and Dorothy Thompson," Kenyon Review, Summer 1989. Reprinted in Pack and Parini (eds.), The Bread
Loaf
Anthology of Contemporary American Essays, University Press of New England, 1989.
"Frederick Funston: The Acerbic Warrior," Smithsonian, May 1989.
"In the Land of the Green Giants," Mabuhay Philippine Airlines, February 1988. COVER.
"A Trek Through Time," MD Magazine , September 1986.
"In Funston's Footsteps," Mabuhay Philippine Airlines, September 1987.
"Letter From Manila: How the Press Helped to Dump a Despot," Columbia Journalism Review, May-June 1986. COVER.
"Bread Loaf at Sixty," Middlebury, Spring 1985.
"The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference 1983," Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook:1984, Gale, 1985.
"Augusto Sandino: The Man Who Made the Yanquis Go Home," American Heritage, August-September 1985. Reprinted in Andrew C. Kimmens (ed.), Nicaragua and the United States, H.W. Wilson, 1987.
BOOK REVIEWS and NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
"American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857 (Sally Denton)," review, New York Times Book Review, September 7, 2003.
"The Santa Fe Trail (David Dary)," review, New York Times Book Review, December 10, 2000.
"Sights Once Seen: Daguerreotyping Fremont's Last Expedition Through the Rockies (Robert Shlaer)," review, New York Times Book Review, May 7, 2000.
"A Newer World: Kit Carson, John C. Fremont, and the Claiming of the American West (David Roberts)," review, New York Times Book Review, 27 February 2000.
"Exiles: Three Short Novels (Philip Caputo)," review, New York Times Book Review, 10 August 1997.
"A Vatican Lifeline (Simpson)," review, New York Times Book Review, 23 June 1996.
"Finding Moon (Tony Hillerman)," review, New York Times Book Review, 22 October 1995.
"Highways to a War" (Koch)," review, New York Times Book Review, July 1995.
"Railroads of Vermont, vol. III (Jones)," review,Vermont History, Summer 1995.
"Cuba and the Night (Pico Iyer)," review, New York Times Book Review, April 1995.
"This Bloody Deed: The Magruder Incident (Hamilton)," review, New York Times Book Review, 30 October 1994.
"The Vacant Chair: The Northern Soldier Leaves Home (Mitchell)," review, New York Times Book Review, 12 June 1994.
"Zephyr: Tracking a Dream Across America (Henry Kisor)," review, New York Times Book Review, 20 March 1994.
"Railroads of Vermont, vol. II (Jones)," Vermont History, Spring 1994.
"Reconciliation Road: A Family Odyssey of War and Honor (Marshall)," New York Times Book Review, 2 January 1994.
"Railroads of Vermont, vol. I (Jones)," Vermont History, Winter 1993.
"Many Thousand Gone: African Americans From Slavery to Freedom (Hamilton)," New York Times Book Review, February 1993.
"This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamaugua (Cozzens)," New York Times Book Review, 29 November 1992.
"What's In It For Me? (Stedino-Matera)," review, New York Times Book Review, 25 October 1992.
"The Fire Eaters (Walther)," review, New York Times Book Review, Fall 1992.
"The Civil War in the American West (Alvin Josephy)," review, New York Times Book Review, 8 March 1992.
"The Dragon and the Cross: The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in Middle America (Tucker)," review, New York Times Book Review, 5 January 1992.
"Witness to an Era: The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner
(Katz)," review, New York Times Book Review, 16 June 1991.
"Red Cap (Wisler)/The Ghost Cadet (Alphin)," review, New York Times Book Review, 19 May 1991.
"Tucker's Last Stand (William F. Buckley, Jr.), New York Times Book Review,
17 February 1991.
"The Civil War: An Illustrated History (Geoffrey Ward, Ken Burns, & Ric Burns)," review, New York Times Book Review, September 1990.
"The Westies: Inside the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob (English)," review, New York Times Book Review, 8 April 1990.
"Mother, May You Never See the Sights I Have Seen: The 57th Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers in the Army of the Potomac 1864-65 (Wilkinson)," review, New York Times Book Review, February 1990.
"Kings of Cocaine (Gugliotta and Leen)," review, New York Times Book Review, 30 April 1989.
"The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare (Hagerman), review, New York Times Book Review, March 1989.
"In Our Own Image (Stanley Karnow)," review, Newsday, March 1989. FRONT PAGE.
"A Few Good Men (Overgard)," review, New York Times Book Review, January 1989.
"Liberty Under Siege (Walter Karp)," review, Washington Post Book World, 1 January 1989.
"Richard Wright: Daemonic Genius (Margaret Walker)," review, Newsday,
"The Marcos Dynasty (Sterling Seagrave)," review, Newsday, 6 November 1988. FRONT PAGE.
"The Marcos Dynasty (Seagrave)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 30 October 1989.
"Recollections of a Life (Alger Hiss)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 29 May 1988.
"Rice Wine (Came)," review, New York Times Book Review, 3 April 1988.
"Merchants of Death: The American Tobacco Industry (White), review, Newsday, May 1988.
"Blowback (Simpson)," review, Newsday, May 1988.
"Union Pacific: Birth of a Railroad (Maury Klein), Philadelphia Inquirer, 27 December 1987.
"Out on the Rim (Thomas)," review, Newsday, 18 October 1987.
"Worth Dying For (Simons), Inside the Philippine Revolution (Chapman)," review, Washington Post Book World, 23 October 1987. SYNDICATED.
"John Ciardi: Measure of the Man (Vince Clemente)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 23 August 1987.
"The Four Days of Courage (Johnson)," review, New York Times Book Review, June 1987.
"Imelda Marcos (Pedrosa), The Marcos File (McDougald)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 June 1987. FRONT PAGE.
"Waltzing With a Dictator (Raymond Bonner)," review, Newsday, 17 May 1987. FRONT PAGE.
"Corazon Aquino (Komisar)," review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, 10 May 1987. FRONT PAGE.
"Retaking the Philippines (Bruer)," review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, December 1986.
"Crisis in the Philippines (Bresnan)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 December 1986. FRONT PAGE.
"The Heist (Volkman and Cummings)," review, Newsday, 20 October 1986.
"War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (Dower)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 13 July 1986. FRONT PAGE.
"The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin (Knox)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 2 February 1986.
"On the Road with Charles Kuralt (Kuralt)," review, TV Guide, 3 August 1985.
"Hiroshima Maidens (Barker)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 4 August 1985. FRONT PAGE.
"Maverick: Fifty Years of Investigative Reporting (Fred Cook)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 February 1985.
"Kate Quinton's Days (Susan Sheehan)," review, New York Times Book Review, 4 November 1984.
"Payback: Five Marines After Vietnam (Klein)," review, Newsday, 29 October 1984.
"The Good War (Studs Terkel)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 21 October 1984. FRONT PAGE.
"The Spanish War (O'Toole)," review, St. Petersburg Times, 21 October 1984.
"Endless Enemies (Jonathan Kwitny)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 7 October 1984.
"Long Time Passing (MacPherson) and Touched With Fire (Wheeler)," review, St. Petersburg Times, 2 September 1984.
"The Nation Thief (Robert Houston)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1 April 1984.
"The Nation Thief (Houston)," review, St. Petersburg Times, 8 April 1984.
"Aftermath (Downs)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 18 March 1984.
"Libby Holman: Body and Soul (Perry), review, Philadelphia Inquirer, February 1984.
"Louis Armstrong (James Lincoln Collier)," review, St. Petersburg Times, 20 November 1983.
"A Country Such as This (James Webb)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer 13 November 1983.
"The Passionate War: Narrative History of the Spanish Civil War (Peter Wyden)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 July 1983. FRONT PAGE.
"Widows (Ariel Dorfman)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10 July 1983. FRONT PAGE.
"Roughneck: Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood (Carlson)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 22 May 1983.
"When Tigers Fight: The Sino-Japanese War 1937-1945 (Wilson)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 5 September 1982.
"Is There No Place on Earth for Me? (Susan Sheehan)," review, Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 March 1982.
"The Islands (Emily Hahn)," review, Newsday, 17 January 1982.
"The Islands (Hahn)," review, Baltimore Sun, 11 October 1981.
"Douglas MacArthur: The Philippine Years (Carol Morris Petillo)," review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, 22 November 1981.
"A Death in California (Joan Barthel)," review, Newsday, 23 August 1981.
"The Ohio Gang: World of Warren G. Harding (Mee)," review, Newsday, 23 August 1981.
"The Park is Mine (Peters)," review, Newsday, 6 August 1981.
"The Healer (Levitt)," review, Newsday, 16 October 1980.
"A Gentlemen's Agreement Not to Drop a Dime," feature, Newsday, 1979.
"How to Dub 'Aaargh!' Into English," feature, New York Times Arts and Leisure, 2 July 1978.