The Dark Ages of My Youth: And Times More Recent

When Ward Degler graduated from journalism school, his mother speculated he would become a world-famous war correspondent or, at the very least, editor-in-chief of an influential newspaper. He did neither. Instead, he became a columnist, giving him the opportunity to write about subjects that interested him while avoiding everything that didnt.

In The Dark Ages of My Youth, Degler shares a selected collection of the weekly columns written for the Times Sentinel in Zionsville, Indiana, from...