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Explore the literary world of this author
A Love Affair with Extinct Birds
After stumbling upon a book of photographs depicting extinct animals, B.J. Hollars became fascinated by the creatures that are no longer with us; spec...
What Our Pets Teach Us about Life, Death, and Being Human
What is it that dogs have done to earn the title of "man's best friend"? And more broadly, how have all of our furry, feathered, and four-legged breth...
Hunting Monsters, Martians, and the Weird in Flyover Country
Midwestern Strange chronicles B.J. Hollars's exploration of the mythic, lesser-known oddities of flyover country. The mysteries, ranging from bipedal ...
Stories
B. J. Hollars's debut short story collection offers ten thematically linked tales, all of which are out to subvert conventional notions of the Midwest...
A Father and Son Rediscover America on the Oregon Trail
B.J. Hollars and his young son strike out on a 2,500-mile road trip to retrace the Oregon Trail. Their mission: to rediscover America—and Americans�...
The Truman Capote Prize-winning author “provides an offbeat look at the fragility of human life and our resilience when faced with death” (Kirkus)...
Personal Stories of the Freedom Riders
Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Author's Note -- Prologue: All Aboard -- Part I. The Road Behind -- 1. James Zwerg: Appleto...
Wisconsinites on Perseverance in a Pandemic
"In March of 2020, shortly after Wisconsin began receiving positive cases of COVID-19, writer and professor B. J. Hollars struck out to create a colla...
Contemporary Writers Take You Inside The Story
Compelling stories have the power to generate infinite wonder: It's nearly impossible to imagine how the author began, and yet we sense there's much m...
Race, Violence, and the Last Lynching in America
A vivid and troubling portrait of violence, lynching, and race relations over a fifty-year period in the state of Alabama....
The Primary That Launched a President and Changed the Course of History
The behind-the-scenes story of JFK’s 1960 Wisconsin primary campaign When John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, he did something no candidate h...
The Desegregation of the University of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa
Opening the Doors is a wide-ranging account of the University of Alabama’s 1956 and 1963 desegregation attempts, as well as the little-known story o...
Reporting the Fiction of Nonfiction
In homage to Michael Lesy's cult classic, Wisconsin Death Trip, Hollars pairs reports from late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century journalists wi...
A Family's Season of Grief
In October 2020, B.J. Hollars answered a call from his father-in-law while teaching a class. "When will you be home?" Steve asked. "I have news." So b...
Essays
Literary Nonfiction. We're constantly looking for clues of what comes next, in tarot cards and tea leaves, in augury and biography, too. But can we ev...
Literary Nonfiction. This thoughtful collection of essays explores the facts surrounding three monsters that have plagued and intrigued our modern soc...