Traci J. Macnamara worked as the About.com Survival Skills Topic Guide during this timeframe and wrote more than 100 articles on topics ranging from emergency shelters to animal encounters. She also wrote many, many book reviews for High Country News, Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, Sacramento News & Review, the About.com Contemporary Literature site, and NewWest.
2011
“No bones about it: two books on the disappearing Everett Ruess." A review essay on David Roberts’ Finding Everett Ruess and Philip Fradkin’s Everett Ruess, High Country News, 19 September 2011.
“An Interview with Jenny Shank: Writer, Baseball Fan, and Author of The Ringer.” NewWest, 28 March 2011.
“Haute Coffee, Cool Beans: Leadville coffee roaster Travis Colbert is passionate about a good cup of joe, and the community that comes along with it.” Vail Daily, 20 December 2011.
“Backcountry Getaways: Vail Valley residents seek out more remote mountain escapes.” Vail Daily, 21 December 2011.
About.com Contemporary Literature
October 2011
Review of Aleph, by Paulo Coelho
August 2011
Review of The Leftovers, by Tom Perrotta
June 2011
Review of State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
May 2011
Review of Unfamiliar Fishes, by Sarah Vowell
February 2011
Review of Spark: How Creativity Works, by Julie Burstein
January 2011
Review of Caribou Island, by David Vann
2010
“Notes from a Wyoming Sheepwagon.” A Review of Claiming Ground by Laura Bell, High Country News, 7 June 2010.
“A Dark and Disjointed Journey." A review of Day Out of Days by Sam Shepard, High Country News, 15 February 2010.
“From Missouri to Montana, On Foot. ” A review of Seldom Seen: A Journey into the Great Plains by Patrick Dobson, NewWest, 19 March 2010.
About.com Contemporary Literature
November 2010
Review of Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, by Steven Johnson
October 2010
Review of Before you Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, by Danielle Evans
June 2010
Review of Broken: A Love Story, by Lisa Jones
April 2010
Review of Imperfect Birds, by Anne Lamott
January 2010
Review of Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, by Elizabeth Gilbert
2009
“Angel or Devil?” A review of No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of Hells Angels by Jay Dobyns, with Nils Johnson-Shelton, Sacramento News & Review, 26 March 2009.
“All-American Books.” A review of Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America by Jay Parini, Sacramento News & Review, 8 January 2009.
“Wolf Man: Shaun Ellis Tells of His Life in an Idaho Wolf Pack.” A review of The Man Who Lives with Wolves by Shaun Ellis, with Penny Junor, NewWest, 25 December 2009.
“White-Water Drama.” A review of In the Heart of the Canyon by Elisabeth Hyde, NewWest, 18 September 2009.
“Tracing One Woman’s Footsteps, Seeing Colorado in a New Way.” A review of Following Isabella: Travels in Colorado Then and Now by Robert Root, NewWest, 17 July 2009.
“Mountain Moguls.” A review of Triple Cross by Mark T. Sullivan, NewWest, 5 June 2009.
"The Nation's Highest Honor." A review of The Nation’s Highest Honor by James Gaitis, NewWest, 15 May 2009.
“Breaking Her Silence.” A review of Things I’ve Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi, Rocky Mountain News, 8 January 2009.
About.com Contemporary Literature
December 2009
Review of Changing My Mind, by Zadie Smith
November 2009
Review of Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby
October 2009
Review of The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009, ed. Elizabeth Kolbert
September 2009
Review of The Winner Stands Alone, by Paulo Coelho
August 2009
Review of The Blue Notebook, by James A. Levine
July 2009
Review of The Angel’s Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
May 2009
Review of The 2009 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, edited by Laura Furman
April 2009
Review of Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, by Wells Tower
February 2009
Review of The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2008, edited by Jerome Groopman, M.D.
January 2009
Review of The Nation Guide to the Nation, by The Nation editors
2008
"Mountain Girls." Summit Magazine, Spring 2008.
“Over the Edge.” A review of Near Death in the Mountains, edited by Cecil Kuhne, Sacramento News & Review, 14 August 2008.
“Still Smokin.’” A Review of When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris, Sacramento News & Review, 3 July 2008.
“Physics, schmisics!” A review of Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku, Sacramento News & Review, 24 April 2008.
“Real food for thought.” A review of In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, Sacramento News & Review, 7 February 2008.
“‘Lace' a finely textured novel—and rare story of self-publishing success.” A review of The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, Rocky Mountain News, 7 August 2008.
“A detective assumes the identity of her look-alike in new summer sizzler.” A review of The Likeness by Tana French, Rocky Mountain News, 10 July 2008.
“New-era ‘Arabian Nights’ weaves bygone stories into mosaic of modern culture.” A review of The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine, Rocky Mountain News, 17 April 2008.
“Wildly inventive novel melds science, love.” A review of The Invention of Everything Else, by Samantha Hunt, Rocky Mountain News, 22 February 2008.
About.com Contemporary Literature
December 2008
Review of Hurry Down Sunshine, by Michael Greenberg
August 2008
Review of Man in the Dark, by Paul Auster
July 2008
Review of Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World, by David Maraniss
June 2008
Review of House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family, by Paul Fisher
April 2008
Review of A Wolf at the Table, by Augusten Burroughs
April 2008
Review of My Revolutions, Hari Kunzru
February 2008
Review of Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes, by Mark J. Penn
January 2008
Review of Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, by David Michaelis