America's Greatest Living Writer?

Perhaps, perhaps, it’s hard to say, but Charles Bowden is definitely one of them. He is recognized by his peers and gets great reviews in the New York Times Review of Books, but his problem is that he is so hard to classify. Most of his work is filed as environmental writing. His recent work gets put in the crime non-fiction section. None of this is accurate, he is just a great writer, one with incredible command of the language who is able to articulate a perspective that many of us who know the desert well feel but could never put into words. I defy anyone to read the first section of Blues for Cannibals and not come away from it a changed person.

Another great thing about Bowden is that he works with great photographers.

This article in Mother Jones give no clue to Bowden’s writing talents, but the photographs by Penny De Los Santos tell the tale.