KAUFFMAN, Bill 1959-

PERSONAL:

Born William J. Kauffman, November 15, 1959, in Batavia, NY; son of E. Joseph and Sandra (Baker) Kauffman; married Lucine Margaret Andonian, May 22, 1987; children: Gretel. Education: University of Rochester, B.A., 1981. Politics: "Jeffersonian Regionalist." Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Astronomy, American music, collecting coins and political campaign items.

ADDRESSES:

Home—28 Chapel St., P.O. Box 266, Elba, NY 14058. Agent—Kirsten Manges, Curtis Brown, Ltd., 10 Astor Pl., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER:

Editor and author. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Washington, DC, legislative assistant, 1981-83; Reason, Santa Barbara, CA/Washington, DC, assistant editor, 1985-88; American Enterprise, Washington, DC, associate editor, 1994—. Member of board of directors, Genesee Landmark Society, 1993—; director, Holland Purchase Historical Society, 1993—; director, Friends of the Richmond Library, 1997—; director, Genesee County Baseball Club, 2001—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Sense of Place Award, Writers & Books, 2003; Genesee-Orleans Community Arts Award, 2004.

WRITINGS:

Every Man a King (novel), Soho Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Country Towns of New York (travel), Country Roads Press (Castine, ME), 1994, 2nd edition, Country Roads Press (Lincolnwood, IL), 1999.

America First! Its History, Culture, and Politics, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 1995.

With Good Intentions?: Reflections on the Myth of Progress in America, Praeger (Westport, CT), 1998.

Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette: A Mostly Affectionate Account of a Small Town's Fight to Survive, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor and author of introduction) Ruth Sarles, A Story of America First: The Men and Women Who Opposed U.S. Intervention in World War II, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Front-Porch Anarchist (nonfiction).

SIDELIGHTS:

Author Bill Kauffman was described by Robert Cheeks in American Enterprise as "a master of the English language and an inveterate storyteller; he has the talent to make you pay attention, and he can change your mind." Kauffman has written one novel, Every Man a King, and several nonfiction works including America First! Its History, Culture, and Politics, With Good Intentions?: Reflections on the Myth of Progress in America, and Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette: A Mostly Affectionate Account of a Small Town's Fight to Survive. A popular theme in Kauffman's works is his love of small-town America, specifically his hometown of Batavia, New York, and his disdain of internationalism.

In America First!, according to Mark C. Smith of Journal of Church and State, "Kauffman has constructed an interesting group of writers, professional celebrities, and regional politicians who have embraced the virtues of small-town America against internationalism." Kauffman discusses issues in American politics and America's foreign policy, focusing his efforts on notable individuals who thought the best place for American troops was on home soil, in the defense of the United States. Ray Olson of Booklist concluded, "If you read only one political history book this year, here it is." David C. Hendrickson of Foreign Affairs expressed similar sentiments, calling America First!, "an enjoyable portrait of the 'little Americans.'"

With Good Intentions? is Kauffman's examination of several causes that shaped the America of today, including the fights against child labor laws, school consolidation, women's suffrage, and the interstate highway system. According to Booklist's Olson, Kauffman explores the values sacrificed by these conflicts such as "parental authority, family stability, community integrity, self-determination, and anti-imperialism." Olson concluded that Kauffman gives these issues "the loud-and-clear airing" they deserve.

Kauffman's next book, Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, is his account of what it's like to return to small-town America after spending several years living a fast-paced city life in Washington, DC. Kauffman once told CA: "When in 1988 I returned to my hometown of Batavia, New York, after a lengthy and pleasurable tour of Babylon, I half-jokingly told friends that I was going to be 'the Hamlin Garland of Upstate New York.' I'm more cheerful than our earnest old Ham, but what I meant was that I intended to slash and dynamite my way down two separate (though, in the distance, convergent) paths. I wanted to: 1) excavate, restore, and promote the distinct regional culture of Upstate New York; 2) resurrect the noble and unfairly discredited tradition of agrarian localist libertarian populism. I hope that in my own discursive way, that's what I'm doing."

In Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, Kauffman combines autobiographical, historical, and local perspectives on life in Batavia. Like many small towns in America, Batavia suffers from a loss in population and industry. Despite its struggles, Kauffman "finds much to celebrate and savor in Batavia," noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor. A Publishers Weekly critic observed, "Kauffman's Batavia is a real town with real problems," but the author "finds what little charm still exists between J. C. Penney and multiple Wendy's outposts and describes it here with terrific humor." The Kirkus Reviews writer dubbed Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, "politically incorrect, always honest, and buoyantly upbeat; a joyous celebration of place." American Enterprise 's Cheeks commented, "Kauffman writes with a certain petulance and a decided penache."

Kauffman once told CA that his strongest literary influences included Gore Vidal, Sinclair Lewis, Walt Whitman, Jack Kerouac, Thomas Wolfe, H. L. Mencken, Edward Abbey, Sarah Orne Jewett, Henry Thoreau, Wendell Berry, and his Upstate New York forbears (Harold Frederic, Walter D. Edmonds, and Henry W. Clune). He said, "My political influences include all the above plus my sweet, loving, defiant grandfather Ed Kauffman and the countless American populists and anarchists and postage-stamp-of-ground localists—the men and women who stand on what they stand for, who have the guts to say 'No' to Power and 'Yes' to their families and neighbors and ancestors and the flag of the coiled rattlesnake."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Enterprise, September, 2003, Robert Cheeks, "I'll Take My Stand… Yankee Style," p. 53.

Booklist, March 15, 1995, Ray Olson, review of America First! Its History, Culture, and Politics, p. 1617; November 1, 1998, Ray Olson, review of With Good Intentions?: Reflections on the Myth of Progress in America, p. 456; February 1, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette: A Mostly Affectionate Account of a Small Town's Fight to Survive, p. 965.

Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY), February 25, 2003, Anthony Violanti, "Native Son Fondly Recalls Life in Batavia," review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette.

Foreign Affairs, November-December, 1995, David C. Hendrickson, review of America First!, p. 125.

Insight, August 21, 1995, "Munching Bon Mots: A View from the Provinces," review of America First!, pp. 12-13.

Journal of Church and State, spring, 1997, Mark C. Smith, review of America First!, p. 374.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2002, review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, p. 1824.

Publishers Weekly, December 9, 2002, review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, p. 70.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 1999, review of With Good Intentions?, p. 91.

Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA), March 16, 2003, Alan Pell Crawford, "Batavia Manages to Keep Keepin' On," review of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette

Washington Monthly, October, 1995, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., review of America First!, p. 57.

World Policy Journal, fall, 1996, Benjamin Schwartz, "The Tragedy of American Isolationism," review of America First!, pp. 107-114.