Kauffman, Bill 1959–

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Kauffman, Bill 1959–

(William J. Kauffman)

PERSONAL:

Born November 15, 1959, in Batavia, NY; son of E. Joseph and Sandra Kauffman; married Lucine Margaret Andonian, May 22, 1987; children: Gretel. Education: University of Rochester, B.A., 1981.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Elba, NY. Agent—Kirsten Manges, Curtis Brown, Ltd., 10 Astor Pl., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER:

Editor and author. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Washington, DC, legislative assistant, 1981-83; Reason, Santa Barbara, CA/Washington, DC, assistant editor, 1985-88; American Enterprise, Washington, DC, associate editor, 1994—. Member of board of directors, Genesee Landmark Society, 1993—; director, Holland Purchase Historical Society, 1993—; director, Friends of the Richmond Library, 1997—; director, Genesee County Baseball Club, 2001—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Sense of Place Award, Writers & Books, 2003; Genesee-Orleans Community Arts Award, 2004.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Country Towns of New York (travel), Country Roads Press (Castine, ME), 1994, 2nd edition, Country Roads Press (Lincolnwood, IL), 1999.

America First! Its History, Culture, and Politics, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 1995.

With Good Intentions? Reflections on the Myth of Progress in America, Praeger (Westport, CT), 1998.

Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette: A Mostly Affectionate Account of a Small Town's Fight to Survive, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor and author of introduction) Ruth Sarles, A Story of America First: The Men and Women Who Opposed U.S. Intervention in World War II, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2003.

Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-porch Anarchists, ISI Books (Wilmington, DE), 2006.

Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle American Anti-imperialism, Metropolitan Books (New York, NY), 2008.

OTHER

Every Man a King (novel), Soho Press (New York, NY), 1989.

SIDELIGHTS:

Author Bill Kauffman was described by Robert Cheeks in American Enterprise as a "master of the English language and an inveterate storyteller." Kauffman has written one novel, Every Man a King, and several nonfiction works, including America First! Its History, Culture, and Politics, With Good Intentions? Reflections on the Myth of Progress in America, and Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette: A Mostly Affectionate Account of a Small Town's Fight to Survive. A popular theme in Kauffman's works is his love of small-town America, specifically his hometown of Batavia, NY, and his disdain of internationalism.

In America First!, according to Mark C. Smith, writing in Journal of Church and State, Kauffman has brought together an interesting and diverse group of notables who "have embraced the virtues of small-town America." Kauffman discusses issues in American politics and America's foreign policy, focusing his efforts on notable individuals who thought the best place for American troops was on home soil, in the defense of the United States. Ray Olson, writing in Booklist concluded, "If you read only one political history book this year, here it is." David C. Hendrickson, writing in Foreign Affairs expressed similar sentiments, calling America First! an "enjoyable portrait of the ‘little Americans.’"

With Good Intentions? is Kauffman's examination of several causes that shaped the America of today, including the fights against child labor laws, school consolidation, women's suffrage, and the interstate highway system. According to Booklist's Olson, Kauffman explores the values sacrificed by these conflicts such as "community integrity, self-determination, and anti-imperialism." Olson concluded that Kauffman gives these issues the "loud-and-clear airing" they deserve.

Kauffman's next book, Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, is his account of what it's like to return to small-town America after spending several years living a fast-paced city life in Washington, DC. Kauffman once told CA: "When in 1988 I returned to my hometown of Batavia, New York, after a lengthy and pleasurable tour of Babylon, I half-jokingly told friends that I was going to be ‘the Hamlin Garland of upstate New York.’ I'm more cheerful than our earnest old Ham, but what I meant was that I intended to slash and dynamite my way down two separate (though, in the distance, convergent) paths. I wanted to: 1) excavate, restore, and promote the distinct regional culture of upstate New York; 2) resurrect the noble and unfairly discredited tradition of agrarian localist libertarian populism. I hope that in my own discursive way, that's what I'm doing."

In Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, Kauffman combines autobiographical, historical, and local perspectives on life in Batavia. Like many small towns in America, Batavia suffers from a loss in population and industry. Despite its struggles, Kauffman "finds much to celebrate and savor in Batavia," noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor. A Publishers Weekly critic observed, "Kauffman's Batavia is a real town with real problems." The Kirkus Reviews writer dubbed Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette "politically incorrect, always honest, and buoyantly upbeat." American Enterprise contributor Cheeks commented that the author writes "with a certain petulance and a decided penache."

Kauffman followed up Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette with 2006's Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-porch Anarchists, a collection of essays expressing the author's political views, memories of growing up, and sketches of American figures. Profiles include those of activist Dorothy Day, novelist Carolyn Chute, congressman Clement Vallandigham, antiwar enthusiast Karl Hess, and painter Grant Wood. While some of these figures are well known, Kauffman also writes about lesser-known activists or forgotten politicians who the author feels made waves in their own community and era. Readers and critics reacted positively to the book, citing Kauffman's skilled and engaging writing and passion for his subjects. Kauffman is a "supremely gifted writer," noted Robert C. Cheeks in a review for the California Literary Review. Others lauded the author's unique voice and sharp wit and candor as highlights of Look Homeward, America. Kauffman employs his "customary fine, funny, dead-on-the-money phrasing," wrote Booklist contributor Ray Olson.

Kauffman once told CA that his strongest literary influences included Gore Vidal, Sinclair Lewis, Walt Whitman, Jack Kerouac, Thomas Wolfe, H.L. Mencken, Edward Abbey, Sarah Orne Jewett, Henry Thoreau, Wendell Berry, and his upstate New York forebears (Harold Frederic, Walter D. Edmonds, and Henry W. Clune). He said, "My political influences include all the above plus my sweet, loving, defiant grandfather Ed Kauffman and the countless American populists and anarchists and postage-stamp-of-ground localists—the men and women who stand on what they stand for, who have the guts to say ‘No’ to Power and ‘Yes’ to their families and neighbors and ancestors and the flag of the coiled rattlesnake."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Enterprise, September, 2003, Robert Cheeks, "I'll Take My Stand … Yankee Style," p. 53.

Booklist, March 15, 1995, Ray Olson, review of America First! Its History, Culture, and Politics, p. 1617; November 1, 1998, Ray Olson, review of With Good Intentions? Reflections on the Myth of Progress in America, p. 456; February 1, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette: A Mostly Affectionate Account of a Small Town's Fight to Survive, p. 965; April 15, 2006, Ray Olson, review of Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-porch Anarchists, p. 11.

Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY), February 25, 2003, Anthony Violanti, "Native Son Fondly Recalls Life in Batavia," review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette.

Foreign Affairs, November-December, 1995, David C. Hendrickson, review of America First!, p. 125.

Insight, August 21, 1995, "Munching Bon Mots: A View from the Provinces," review of America First!, p. 12.

Journal of Church and State, spring, 1997, Mark C. Smith, review of America First!, p. 374.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2002, review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, p. 1824; March 1, 2008, review of Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle American Anti-imperialism.

Publishers Weekly, December 9, 2002, review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, p. 70.

Reason, January 1, 2007, John McClaughry, review of Look Homeward, America, p. 62.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 1999, review of With Good Intentions?, p. 91; August 1, 2006, review of Look Homeward, America.

Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA), March 16, 2003, Alan Pell Crawford, "Batavia Manages to Keep Keepin' On," review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette.

Washington Monthly, October, 1995, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., review of America First!, p. 57.

World Policy Journal, fall, 1996, Benjamin Schwartz, "The Tragedy of American Isolationism," review of America First!, p. 107.