Journalist Hal Crowther is a connoisseur of green places. He has a particular reverence for trees, sparing neither effort nor expense to keep the beautiful maples and hickories in his yard as healthy and as upright as possible. When he’s overwhelmed by politics, Hal heads outside. Back inside, he’s still writing up a Menckenian storm about the state of things.

Hal Crowther is the author of six books: An Infuriating American: the Incendiary Arts of H.L. Mencken, and five collections of essays, including Cathedrals of Kudzu, Gather at the River, and Unarmed But Dangerous. His most recent book, Freedom Fighters and Hellraisers, won the Independent Publishers gold medal for Creative Non-Fiction. Hal was a media editor and critic for Time and Newsweek magazines, a film and drama critic for the Buffalo News, and executive editor of The Spectator in Raleigh. He has several writing credits for film and television. His books and essays, and his syndicated column for the Spectator and the Independent Weekly, have won various prizes, including the H.L. Mencken Writing Award, the Lilian Smith Book Award, and three Pushcart Prizes. He is married to novelist Lee Smith. They live in Hillsborough, North Carolina, surrounded by a yard full of well-tended trees.