Dark Winter — A simulated terrorist attack on three American cities using weaponized smallpox
By Dave Duffy
Issue #81 • May/June, 2003
Historically, smallpox has been the most deadly of all diseases for humans, killing between 300 and 500 million in the last century alone, far more than the 111...
The current ‘Gun control’ push — A cop’s eye view
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #142 • July/August, 2013
First, a word of explanation. The reason "gun control" is in quotes in the title and in this sentence is because, for a very long time, the prohibitionists...
Body language and threat recognition
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #87 • May/June, 2004
Reader mail indicates that while some Backwoods Home readers turn to this column for advice on putting wild game on the table or keeping four-footed poachers out of...
Lessons for My Children Chapter 1
By Dave Duffy
Issue #136 • July/August, 2012
I've been working for several years on a small book for my kids called Lessons for My Children that will attempt to give them advice about how to...
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...
In time of war — The Israeli answer to terrorism
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #81 • May/June, 2003
When war seems imminent, citizens think about protecting themselves. The war of the moment involves a declared enemy that has already used unconventional tactics to murder some three...
How to fix your aching back using the McKenzie Method
By Dave Duffy
Issue #144 • November/December, 2013
It's hard to get anything done around the homestead if you've got an ailing back. I've had an ailing back for about 40 years, but between issues, after...
My View: Three Cheers for Free Enterprise
By Dave Duffy
I love free enterprise. I see it all the time in our many trips across the country to show Backwoods Home Magazine at the fairs and expos we attend. Perhaps the most...
Looking back on 20 years of BHM
By Dave Duffy
Issue #120 • November/December, 2009
I was freezing when I slipped into my old down-filled Army sleeping bag. But I was used to the drill. I'd just lay there motionless as a mummy...
Our energy crisis Part 1 — It’s our creation, but we can fix it
By John Silveira
Issue #113 • September/October, 2008
It has been said the United States is a "carbon economy" meaning that our economy and standard of living depend on the availability of fossil fuels which include...
Common sense about burglary prevention
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #89 • September/October, 2004
Read this month's editorial. Publisher Dave Duffy got burgled. The residue of hurt this experience leaves behind is a primal thing that you never get over entirely. It...
The burglar does far more than steal!
By Dave Duffy
Issue #89 • September/October, 2004
"Never mind about stealing the damn stuff!
This is the wrong place!
We have to leave!"
"That's what they were saying Dad, right outside my window," my 12-year-old son Jake told...
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...
The land of the unfree
By John Silveira
Issue #101 • September/October, 2006
It's official! The numbers are in once again! For I-don't-know-how-many-years-running, the United States, this so-called "land of the free," is imprisoning more people, in both absolute numbers and...
My View: Learn to Do One Thing Well
By Dave Duffy
Learn to do one thing well and you’ll never work another day in your life
A fundamental problem for many young people entering the work force is figuring out not only how to...
My View: Grand Theory vs. Stark Reality
Dave Duffy
While visiting Boston between issues, my wife, Lenie, got into a conversation about preparedness. It was a brief, but telling, discussion because our host, like many people who live in cities, had not...































