When it comes to American Indians, mainstream America suffers from willful blindness.

It seems to me that the time for subtlety in our American life has passed.

L.A., for me, is a perfect microcosm of America - because it's so profligate, and so glamorous, and so anti-intellectual, finally.

In Nagasaki, American planes did drop warning leaflets - but not till Aug. 10, a day after the city was bombed.

Domestic realism has dominated the American marketplace for decades now. It leeches into literary fiction, and I don't think it's that rich a vein.

In 1805, the explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, making their way across the West, were warned by American Indian tribes of grizzly bears' awesome strength.