Michael BalterThe Strange Case of the Montecito Mudslide Human RemainsEarly in the morning of January 9, 2018, the wealthy suburb of Montecito, California, just north of Santa Barbara, was hit with an…8 min read·Oct 27, 2021----
Michael BalterIslands and Other Places: The Romance of Route 66.Note: This article is adapted from an article I published in National Geographic Traveler in 1996. It was in turn adapted from an earlier…9 min read·May 4, 2021----
Michael BalterIslands and other places: The birth of impressionismNote: This is article adapted from a piece I published in Islands magazine in March 1996. I expect it to be part of a book I am currently…8 min read·Apr 9, 2021----
Michael BalterThe Third Man’s ViennaThis story is adapted from a piece I published in the International Herald Tribune and the Washington Post in 1990.6 min read·Feb 15, 2021----
Michael BalterInside the Cassoulet ClubGroucho Marx once said that he would never join a club that would have him as a member. I’ve never been much of a joiner myself. But when…4 min read·Jan 24, 2021----
Michael BalterOver the sea to SkyeThis article is adapted from a piece that originally appeared in the August 23, 1991 edition of the International Herald Tribune.5 min read·Jan 12, 2021----
Michael BalterThe year a socialist almost became governor of California.Home The year a socialist almost became governor of California. Upton Sinclair’s campaign changed the political face of the state14 min read·Jan 3, 2021----
Michael BalterAt the Terezin concentration camp, in former Czechoslovakia, child drawings and writings survived…TEREZIN — It is a custom for visitors wandering the thicket of tombstones in Prague’s Old Jewish Cemetery to place small rocks on top of…6 min read·Dec 9, 2020----
Michael BalterAfghanistan vet Ricky Nelson found solace in archaeology from his injuries and his PTSD.Home Afghanistan vet Ricky Nelson found solace in archaeology from his injuries and his PTSD. But his dreams were dashed and he felt…13 min read·Dec 2, 2020----
Michael BalterA Park Bench in ParisOne morning in the 1870s, the Irish writer George Moore went for a walk in the Luxembourg Gardens of Paris. “I threw myself on a bench,”…5 min read·Nov 30, 2020----
