The Chemistry of Fire: Essays

In 1989, Laurence Gonzales had just published his first book of nonfiction, a collection of essays called The Still Point, with the University of Arkansas Press. Imagine his surprise one day to receive a letter from none other than Kurt Vonnegut. "The excellence of your writing and the depth of your reporting saddened me, in a way," Vonnegut wrote, "reminding me yet again what a tiny voice facts and reason have in this era of wrap-around, mega-decibel rock-and-roll." Several books, many art...