"Quirky, well-crafted essays" by an award-winning journalist about his home state of Indiana, filled with characters famous, notorious, and unknown (Indianapolis Star).Fueled by an insider's view of Indiana and the state's often surprising connections to the larger world, IN Writing is revelatory. It is Indiana in all its glory: sacred and profane; saints and sinners; war and peace; small towns and big cities; art, architecture, poetry and victuals. It's about Hoosier talent and Hoosier genius: the courageous farmer-soldiers who ardently try to win the hearts and minds of twenty-first century Afghan insurgents; the artisans whose work pulses with the aesthetics of faraway homelands; and the famous modernist poet who had to leave to make his mark. It's about places that speak to a wider world: Columbus and its remarkable architecture; New Harmony and its enduring idealism; Indianapolis and its world-renowned Crown Hill cemetery. IN Writing makes visible the unexpected bonds between Indiana and the world at large.

IntroductionPart I. Saints and Sinners1. The Last Vaudevillian: Red Skelton 2. Hubris: Bobby Knight 3. Odd Bodkin4. D.C. Riddle5. The Hoosier General: Lewis B. Hershey and the Selective Service 6. Herbie Wirth 7. Inner Vision: Amish HealerPart II. Complicated Places8. A Fair of the Heart9. A Surprising Utopia10. Architecture and Community11. The Song of IndianaPart III. Culinary Delights12. 'Cook Good, Server Generously, Price Modestly': The Shapiro's Story13. She's the Cheese 14. Strange Brew15. Market Daze: Bloomington's Farmer's Market16. Pawpaw Redux17. Tibetan New Year Celebration18. Lair of the Turtle Soup: a Culinary TraditionPart IV. Artists and Their Craft19. This Rash Adventure: Ezra Pound at Wabash College 20. Erotica Whose Purpose Was Scholarly: Kinsey Institute Art Exhibit 21. Gargoyles and other Pagans22. Crossroads of American Sculpture23. The Stuff of Legend: Indiana and the Empire State Building Part VI. The Present Past24. John Dillinger's Funeral25. Twist the Tiger's Tail 26. That's It: Prohibition, 1918-1933 27. Black-Gold Era's Luxurious Perch: Evansville Petroleum Club28. Lions, Tigers, High Wires29. Conflict and Conciliation30. Taliban in Indiana 31. War Fare CreditsIndex