The third in a trilogy of collected pieces of reportorial nonfiction, personal essays, and profiles from Toby Thompson, Fired On joins Thompson’s Riding the Rough String and Metroliner in charting one of the most respected careers in American letters. For more than forty years, Thompson has been preoccupied with western art and those who create it. From early works by Carl Bodmer and Paul Kane to modern masters like Russell Chatham and T. C. Cannon, in Fired On Thompson considers three centuries’ worth of art in the West. In the process, he paints a larger portrait of the place and its inhabitants. This anthology includes pieces previously published as well as essays written specifically for the collection.
Book Information
Dimensions: 6 x 9
Price: $22.95 Paperback, $9.99 eBook
Release Date: March 15, 2020
Table of Contents
Praise for Previous Works
Positively Main Street
“A first-rate novelistic account of Thompson’s own psyche as he uncovers the Dylan few people know. A new look at young Dylan, done with kindness, enthusiasm, and superb language.”
—William Kennedy
Look magazine
“Toby Thompson was there first.”
—Greil Marcus
Saloon
“I had a wonderful time with this book, reading it in two sittings. I found the writing strong, clear, occasionally electric. In some odd way it seems a sociological masterpiece. For the first time the American drinker has his Michelin, and for myself it would be unthinkable to start another journey without it.”
—Jim Harrison
“Toby Thompson found the place to study the country, and he got it down.”
—Thomas McGuane
“This book is a good place to get a drink.”
—Richard Brautigan
The ’60s Report
“A stunning book. Insightful, lovingly crafted.”
—Tim O’Brien
“Toby Thompson’s writing represents the best of ‘The New Journalism.’”
—Terence Winch
Riding the Rough String
About Toby Thompson
Toby Thompson is the author of five previous books, including Positively Main Street: Bob Dylan’s Minnesota, Riding the Rough String: Reflections on the American West, and Metroliner: Passages, Washington to New York. He has written for publications as diverse as Vanity Fair, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Men’s Journal, Playboy, Outside, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Western Art & Architecture, Big Sky Journal, and The New York Times. He teaches in the Creative Writing program at Penn State, and lives in Cabin John, Maryland, and Livingston, Montana.
Praise for Previous Works (cont.)
“Toby Thompson is a writer and journalist of the old school, a standup guy who knows music and literature and walks the walk and understands the human heart….”
—James Lee Burke
“Toby Thompson knows Montana’s bars, books, bridges, and backcountry. I’ll read anything he writes.”
Tim Cahill
“…Toby Thompson played it smart and went west. His sharp eye and interviewer’s ear caught every nuance. Riding the Rough String sets it all down with verve and assurance.”
—William Hjortsberg
Metroliner
“…first-rate collection, impressively diverse and vastly enjoyable. Toby Thompson is blessed with that rare journalistic talent for painting epic pictures with small, unforgettable details.”
—Carl Hiaasen
“‘Ratfishing in Manhattan’ is fabulous … a piece of poetry that stands as a conceit of New York itself. Thompson is … an intrepid tripper in the Merry Prankster sense, and an Urban Thoreau.”
—Tom Wolfe
“…graceful and entertaining … to say nothing of the energetic reporting.”
—Tom Brokaw
