Outbound: A Lifetime's Adventures in Journalism

by C.W. Gusewelle

Gusewelle's six-decade career with the Kansas City Star took him to Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. He explored the Midwest- his home- with the same uncommon curiosity. These experiences inspired in-depth features and award-winning fiction. Outbound includes "The Lion Makers", a story about men caught between politics and magic in post-colonial Rhodesia (1967) and "Listening to the Middle East", conversations with Arabs and Israelis living through the explosive summer of 1970. Closer to home, "The Fragility of Skepticism" tells of a hunt for Bigfoot in the swamps of Murphysboro, Illinois, in 1973, and "The Broken Twig" reveals the secret wound that is the undoing of an Ozark country friend (1984). This collection contains works originally published in the Antioch Review, Blair & Ketchum's Country Journal, Harper's, the Missouri Review, the Paris Review, Star Magazine, and the Virginia Quarterly Review. Edited by Jennie Guswelle.

277 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2017

Reviews

[Temnospondyli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although these stories have seen print in other places, other magazines or in Gusewelle's other books, it is a fitting tribute, coda, to him as a writer. It showcases his talent as a short story fiction writer more than his previous books, which tended to spotlight the wonderful ability of turning the everyday real life events into charming, often hilarious gems of careful observation. It does, however, beg the question; why did Gusewelle never write a full-length novel? Stories like Sparrows and Hawks or The Way To Prague hook the reader, drawing them in as well as any Hemingway novel can, only to leave them empty and longing for more than their few pages, two dozen at most, have offered. Also included is one of, if not the best, of Gusewelle's non-fiction stories, (though like fellow Missourian, Mark Twain, the dividing line between truth and exaggeration is often a delightfully thin one) The Fragility of Skepticism recounts a muddy trek into the Scatters, a mucky swamp forest on the edge of Murphysboro, Illinois in search of a mysterious Bigfoot-like monster.
Overall, even if you've read most of these stories before, as I had, it's a nice addition to the bookshelf; one that reminds the reader of the depth of talent that was C. W. Gusewelle.