Book excerpt: In this eclectic collection of essays, Rullman explores the tangled landscapes of a culture in rapid transition. From our complicated relationship with emerging technologies to the bombing of Nagasaki, from a skydive to honor the life of a Native American Chief to a solo hike for solace in the remote Sierra backcountry, he invites us to examine the truths swept under the American rug, and to question our role in perpetuating the contradictions, humorous conundrums, and retail pathologies of our evolving world. Gritty, vulnerable and often hilarious, Rullman's writing is born in the borderlands and draws widely from history to remind us that--even in an era of widespread uncertainty--poetry still matters, beauty is found where we pause to embrace it, and in the long arc of human experience our questions outlive the answers.