Deanne Stillman's new book, "Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West," was published in June, 2008 by Houghton Mifflin. It has gotten great reviews and coverage in the Atlantic Monthly, LA Times Book Review, the Economist, NPR's "On Point," Seattle Times, Tucson Weekly, and elsewhere. She is the author of the critically acclaimed bestseller http://www.amazon.com/Twentynine-Palms-Story-Marines-Mojave/dp/1883318793/ref=ed_oe_p(Angel City Press, new, updated edition). It was named by the LA Times Book Review as one of the "best books of 2001" and Hunter Thompson called it "A strange and brilliant story by an important American writer." In 2006, the University of Arizona Press published her book is "Joshua Tree - Desolation Tango," about her travels through Joshua Tree National Park. Her Rolling Stone piece, "The Great Mojave Manhunt," appears in the anthology, Best American Crime Writing 2006, and was a finalist for the 06 PEN Center USA journalism award. She covered the Phil Spector case for Spin and the UK Independent, and the Robert Blake case for Rolling Stone. She also writes for the LA Weekly, Slate, the LA Times, Boston Globe, www.laobserved.com, and other publications. She is a former columnist for Buzz Magazine and the Village Voice. Her plays have been produced and won prizes in festivals around the country, and she has also written for film and television

Blog Entries by Deanne Stillman

Memorial Day Prayer to Charlie and Buffalo Bill

Posted May 25, 2009 | 01:13 PM (EST)


In 1887, a troupe of horses crossed the Atlantic, sailing out of New York harbor as excited crowds looked on and a cowboy band played "The Girl I Left Behind Me," a tune that some of the horses, perhaps cavalry veterans, may have recognized. But this time, they were not...

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The Luckiest Horse in Reno: A Christmas Story

Posted December 23, 2008 | 12:51 PM (EST)


When the men approached, the black foal might have been nursing. Or she might have been on her side, giving her wobbly legs a rest, leaning into her mother under the starry desert sky. At the sound of the vehicle, the band prepared to move and did move at once,...

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Wild Horses Heading to the Gallows as Cowboy Prez Exits

Posted November 11, 2008 | 09:40 PM (EST)


As if the situation were not disturbing enough, wild horses are once again heading for the gallows. Thanks to a report just issued by the GAO, the Bureau of Land Management - tasked with overseeing the country's mustang populations - should implement euthanasia as a tool in handling wild...

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Palin's Blood Spatter Glasses on Back Order

Posted September 12, 2008 | 09:36 PM (EST)


According to the Wall Street Journal, women can't wait to get their hands on the Kawasaki frames that Sarah Palin favors. Evidently, these versatile and stylish eyeglasses are a must-have for the modern gal on the go. Yes, whether she's blowing the head off a moose, whacking wolves from the...

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Dear Peggy Noonan: Yes, Sarah Killed - Wolves, for Starters

Posted September 6, 2008 | 04:26 PM (EST)



"Sarah Palin killed," Peggy Noonan writes in today's http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122059352189503479.html?mod=djemEditorialPage#. "And more than killed." Of course she's referring to her jokes - and all the other lines she delivered so well. Then she goes on to suggest that Palin is "normal," as compared to Hillary Clinton, who, among other...

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Exactly Who Broke McCain's Resolve?

Posted September 3, 2008 | 01:59 PM (EST)


"Fellow citizens," George Bush said last night, "if the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will." Well, the so-called angry left won't have to because the angry right already did it.

According...

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Did the Marines Leave Two Bodies on the Field?*

Posted January 15, 2008 | 09:09 AM (EST)


The Marine Corps prides itself on many things, including the stirring credo that it never leaves a body on the field. Certainly this has often been true; in the long, illustrious history of the corps, there is many a tale about men returning to the kill zone to retrieve their...

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Bush Dusts Off Old Sparky - for People and Wildlife

Posted August 18, 2007 | 12:33 PM (EST)


Following the news that President Bush is fast-tracking the death penalty comes an equally disturbing announcement. Now, he's greasing the gallows for wild animals, by way of a new Presidential executive order that "facilitates hunting heritage and wildlife conservation opportunities." Section 2, point C spells out the grim program:...

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Custer Died Today: The Horse that Survived the Last Stand

Posted June 25, 2007 | 01:19 PM (EST)


Today is the 132nd anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Lakota descendants of the warriors who routed Custer describe them as "the original homeland security." Among the 6000 books written about the battle, few have to do with Native American accounts of the conflagration that changed the country's...

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Namaste and RIP, Alice Coltrane

Posted January 15, 2007 | 03:38 PM (EST)


Today, on Martin Luther King day, as we recall his dream, we should also take a moment to honor Alice Coltrane, who passed away on Friday. Alice Coltrane was a be bop angel - she played jazz harp. Have you ever heard "Journey in Satchidananda"? If not, listen to...

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The Last Burros of the Mojave Desert: A Christmas Story that Needs A Happy Ending

Posted December 24, 2006 | 06:22 PM (EST)


The time has come to speak of the animals in attendance at the nativity, especially the burro, the stubborn, steadfast, and hardy little four-legged who has served us well through the ages, with barely a tip of the hat in the annals. It was a burro that carried Mary...

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It Came From Journalism School: AP Describes Vanishing Marine Life as "Seafood"

Posted November 3, 2006 | 01:29 PM (EST)


Populations of living things all over the world are collapsing fast. Humans too in some countries, but not quickly enough to prevent the obliteration of everything that lives in the sea. According to a new study, by the year 2048, all species of ocean life, including fish, birds, plants,...

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Remember When "W" Stood for Women? Calling Mavis Leno...

Posted October 9, 2006 | 11:41 PM (EST)


The women of Iraq are under siege, raked with bullets for going to work, beaten for not wearing socks, kidnapped and not rescued if those who take them don't ask for ransom because it's assumed they've been raped and therefore deserve to be killed. Generally I steer clear of the...

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Should I Stay or Should I Go? Iraq Policy According to the Clash

Posted October 8, 2006 | 10:14 PM (EST)


Darling you gotta let me know
Should I stay or should I go?
If you say that you are mine
I'll be here 'til the end of time
So you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

It's always tease...

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Let's Mend the Broken Trail: July 4th Call for a Moratorium on Wild Horse Round-Ups Following Recent Deaths

Posted July 3, 2006 | 12:52 PM (EST)


Last week, George Bush screened Broken Trail at the White House, along with its star, Robert Duvall. It was a fantastic movie directed by Walter Hill, about two cowboys driving 500 wild horses from Oregon to Wyoming, doing the right thing by way of women, Native Americans, and immigrants along...

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Surveillance Close-Out: Why Are Phone Rates Dropping So Fast?

Posted May 11, 2006 | 04:59 PM (EST)


I've wondered for months why the major phone carriers keep lowering their rates. Why did AT&T just mount a full-court press for new customers, offering what amounts to nearly free service? Hold your powder, econ trolls -- I get the market forces argument. But now comes news that Verizon, Pac...

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George Bush Is No Richard Nixon: Defrocked, Late Prez Tried to Save Wild Horses

Posted March 9, 2006 | 01:06 AM (EST)


People keep comparing George Bush to Richard Nixon. In one respect, nothing could be further from the truth. In 2005, President Bush signed legislation that will destroy our greatest icon - the wild horse. In 1971, President Nixon signed legislation protecting it. This was the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros...

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On the Waterfront: Time to Give Ports Back to the Mafia

Posted February 21, 2006 | 01:47 AM (EST)


Rush Limbaugh says that instead of turning our ports over to the United Arab Emirates, we should hand them off to Halliburton. Who else can handle such a huge operation, he asks. Well, there is someone else and they happen to have a track record on the docks. I say,...

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US Ag Dept. Doing End Run Around Horse Slaughter Ban

Posted February 2, 2006 | 08:13 AM (EST)


2005 was a critical year for the federally protected wild horse. As I've documented here and here, protections that had been in place since 1971 were rescinded thanks to Senator Conrad Burns, paving the way for thousands of wild horses in government pipelines to be sent to the...

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The Tippling Point

Posted December 17, 2005 | 11:04 PM (EST)


On Saturday when George Bush admitted that he had authorized extra-judicial wiretapping of citizen phone calls, and said he would do it again, he had just lost the vote on the Patriot Act and was standing in front of a portrait of Teddy Roosevelt on a rearing stallion. That's because...

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