Which is better, a small town or city?
By Dave Duffy
Issue #78 • November/December, 2002
Traveling has a way of giving you perspective.
For the past several summers my family and I have traveled around the country, covering as much as 9,000 miles by...
Gun control, race, and rotten politicians
By John Silveira
Issue #83 • September/October, 2003
Is gun control really about guns? Sounds like an odd question on the surface, but it's really right on target. In fact, the answer is: No, gun control...
The Electoral College — How we elect the President
By John Silveira
Issue #18 • November/December, 1992
I've been getting a lot of telephone calls from Oregon lately. My article is late again and Dave Duffy, the fellow who publishes this magazine, keeps...
Understanding the gun debate, part 2
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #162 • November/December, 2016
Click Here to read Part 1
When debating any controversial issue, the first thing one has to do is sort the lies from the truth.
On the pro-gun side, mistruths...
Biological & chemical terrorism
By Dave Duffy
Issue #73 • January/February, 2002
More than 5,000 American civilians lay entombed in the World Trade Center wreckage and more than 20,000 are taking antibiotics to fight off anthrax. America wages war against...
Next time you see me, don’t be afraid to say, ‘Hello.’
By John Silveira
January 29, 2000
Mom and Dad were divorced before I even turned four, so it didn't dawn on me they'd even been married until I was a lot older. But, as I grew...
10 traits for better living
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #151 • January/February, 2015
It's a mystery why one person can be poor but still proud, independent, and reasonably content while the guy next door is merely content to slide into a...
Science and truth. Are they related?
By John Silveira
Issue #46 • July/August, 1997
It was an argument about science. Dave and I were on one side, Dave's friends Tom and Bill, though curiously nonallied, were on the other. I say nonallied...
Why I’m nice to telemarketers
By John Silveira
July 22, 2000
We complain because they bug us during supper. Of course, it wouldn't make sense for them to call us at 1:00 in the afternoon because we're not usually home then....
How environmental ideology hurts the solar energy industry
By Dave Duffy
Issue #69 • May/June, 2001
Starting with our first issue 11 years ago, Backwoods Home Magazine has promoted renewable energies, especially solar energy, and for the past two years we have carried a...
Against a rapist
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #65 • September/October, 2000
Can you use lethal force in self-defense against a rapist? The answer, of course, is yes. Deadly force is permissible only in a situation of "immediate, otherwise unavoidable...
Confessions of a former liberal
By Dave Duffy
Issue #50 • March/April, 1998
There is an old adage that goes something like: "If you're not a liberal when you're in your 20s you haven't got a heart; if you're not a...
Armed civilians can help fight terrorism
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #90 • November/December, 2004
This article was written before terrorists seized a school in Beslan, a town in North Ossetia, one of the small republics that make up the modern Russian Federation....
Guns, suicide prevention, and backwoods lifestyles
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #153 • May/June, 2015
Note to readers: I've served for going on twenty years as firearms editor of Backwoods Home Magazine. The following article is going to be somewhat different from what...
If you want to survive an emergency, look to yourself, not the Government
By Dave Duffy
Issue #96 • November/December, 2005
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath said what I could not have said convincingly in ten thousand words: The government cannot protect you in a major emergency. It doesn't...
Terrorist attack! Was this predictable?
By John Silveira
September 11, 2001
I was awakened to news about the suicide attacks by my daughter. Quite frankly, I thought it was the beginning of a bad joke she'd heard and I was expecting...
