Commentary Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

I stink! but that’s okay

By Dave Duffy Issue #83 • September/October, 2003 There are valuable life lessons to be learned from realizing you're not very good at a lot of things, even at things you think are important to be...

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...

Why you may want to get a stress test

By Dave Duffy Issue #98 • March/April, 2006 Between issues I underwent triple bypass open heart surgery that saved me from a major heart attack, possibly a fatal one. It was a sudden thing. One day...

The Government intimidation factor and its effect on the health of society

By Dave Duffy Issue #142 • July/August, 2013 How do you take the temperature of a society, that is, how do you tell if a society is healthy or sick? Several years after the Soviet Union dissolved...

Putting it all on the Amtrak line for Self-Reliance magazine

By Dave Duffy Issue #163 • January/February, 2017 As publisher of Backwoods Home Magazine for 28 years, I have not had to work as hard in recent years, as younger people like Managing Editor Jessie Denning...

Getting rich through generosity

By John Silveira Issue #89 • September/October, 2004 The conventional wisdom is that to get filthy rich, you need to be greedy. So, it may come as counterintuitive that it's generosity, intentional or accidental, and not...

Chuck meets Bubba

By John Silveira Issue #68 • March/April, 2001 What follows happened a decade and a half ago. I worked in a large corporation where I shared a large cubicle with two other guys. I'll call them...

Should both drugs and guns be legal?

By Dave Duffy Issue #59 • September/October, 1999 Answering the question of Should drugs be legal? is like answering the question of Should guns be legal? Whoever answers either question steps onto a minefield of passionate...

Home handgun defense — Simplicity suffices

By Massad Ayoob Issue #54 • November/December, 1998 You can get as high-tech as you feel you might need when you select the firearm(s) you'll use to protect your family. I "do firearms" for a living,...

Is it time for an education revolution?

By Dave Duffy Issue #77 • September/October, 2002 Education is important, right? Of course it is. Then college must be really important, right? ... Did I hear some of you pause before saying, "Well, yeah, I...

Our energy crisis Part 3 — Alternative energy resources for the nation and for...

By John Silveira Issue #118 • July/August, 2009 The first installment of this energy series (Backwoods Home Magazine, September/October 2008) dealt with the fossil fuels which include petroleum, coal, and natural gas. The second installment (Backwoods...