robertsgriffin.com

WEB SITE FOR ROBERT S. GRIFFIN

This site focuses on my writing since the late 1990s and what ties it together.  It indicates where my books can be obtained and makes available much of my short writing.

I’ve authored  six books and around one hundred short pieces during this period—articles, essays, reviews, an afterword to a book, a published speech, and commentaries.   In addition, this site contains two hundred ten or so thoughts, as I call them, written especially for this site: whatever came to mind that pressed to be expressed in whatever form it happened to take, reflection, essay,  reminiscence, or something else.   I haven't felt  the urge to comment on the events and personages of the day, so I don't consider the thoughts  to be blogs.

My writings have been vehicles for an investigation of the whole of American society and culture and the way we conduct our individual lives.  That has involved me in considerations related to history, philosophy, race, religion, the arts, the mass media, parenting, the process of growing up, gender, education, sports, and personal health and fulfillment.  More fundamentally, my writing has been part of my personal quest to live out Nietzsche’s injunction to become what I am. 

These last few years have brought home to me the importance of living with integrity and courage in the face of adversity.  I’m reminded of what newsman Edward R. Murrow said in the 1950s on his television program “See It Now”:  “We are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.”  I hope it can be said of me that I’m not a fearful man.
   
This site has three sections:
  • Writings.  Contains explanatory comments on my books and short writings and provides information on where to find them.  In some instances I  provide copies of short writings.
  • Thoughts.  Written especially for this site on whatever pushes from within me to be expressed, on any topic at all.  As I indicated above,  my writing is part of a quest to become the person I am, and thus, along with whatever else they are, my writings are a record of my own development.  Especially that is the case with these thoughts.  Note the month and year a thought was written; the closer the date to the present, the closer it is to me as I am now.
  • Contact Me.  Provides you with my e-mail address.
All material found on this web site is protected by copyright laws.  All rights reserved. 2019.

FREE 2019 BOOK.  I’ve put together a book of readings, available here as a PDF, entitled What Came to Mind: Thoughts Late In Life.  It's an update of a 2017 book I entitled From Old to Elderly and posted here.  I must say, I really believe in this version of the book.  I gave myself a page limit—three hundred pages.   Staying within that quota, I selected thoughts over the nearly twelve years I posted on this site that seemed best for this book, which essentially is an exploration of taking on the challenge to live well—honorably, effectively, and gratifyingly--as the person one truly is.  I tinkered with titles, changed some names and places, and edited for length and clarity.   This book is made up of sixty individual efforts, but I believe there’s coherence and progression, even a memoir of sorts, here.   I hope you will find a fair amount of this material unique, informing, stimulating, entertaining, and moving.  I’d like to think there are ideas in these pages that, if applied, will contribute to improving the quality of your life.  These readings were created during the time I went from being old to, now, elderly.   In part, the book is about aging, which is either happening to you now or coming up for you, and it is about death.  Here's the book.

          

FREE COPIES OF THE BOOKS “THE FAME OF A DEAD MAN’S DEEDS” AND "ONE SHEAF, ONE VINE" HERE.

In 2001, I  wrote what I called a portrait (in contrast to a biography) of the late Dr. William Pierce entitled “The Fame of a Dead Man’s Deeds: An Up-Close Portrait of White Nationalist William Pierce.”  Pierce founded and headed a white advocacy organization, The National Alliance.   He came to the attention of the mainstream public back in 1995 when his novel “The Turner Diaries” was thought to have been the inspiration for the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh.  I’ve gone through the manuscript and tightened it and feel good about this edit.   I’ve been having some trouble with oversize PDFs, so, depending on what browser you use, you may have to adjust the size of the page to optimize your reading comfort.    Here  is  the book. 


In 2004, I published what can be viewed as a follow-up to "The Fame of a Dead Mans Deeds" called "One Sheaf, One Vine: Racially Conscious White Americans Talk About Race."  As is "Fame," "Sheaf" is still being widely read, including in several translations.   I remember writing "Sheaf" as a time when I was going through the trauma of losing my hearing.   Here  it is.