Deanne Stillman
@deanne5.bsky.social
Critically acclaimed writer. Books include Twentynine Palms (praised by Hunter S. Thompson as "A strange and brilliant story by an important American writer") and Blood Brothers (starred Kirkus, Newsweek excerpt, praised by Doug Brinkley, Thomas Powers).
Re Fauci on the grill: during Covid, masks became a proxy war for "Don't tread on me." "And now, that thing we all learned in third grade – 'It’s a free country; I can do what I want' – has become 'Why do I have to wear a mask?'” From early lockdown: #journalismsky publicseminar.org/essays/is-am...
Is America Going Down Like Custer? - Public Seminar
For many years, I’ve been writing about the promise and the failure of the American dream. The trail has led...Read More
publicseminar.org
Blood Brothers joins this Goodreads list of Best Nonfiction Books, Western US History, which also includes Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, and Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer #booksky #authorsky www.goodreads.com/list/show/14...
Phos-Chek is pretty, right? "Two tons of water had been dropped. High winds had disrupted the site. 'By the time the time the ATF arrived, it was like looking at a cremated body and trying to make a case for murder.'" My latest on the #palisadesfire. #journalismsky lareported.org/mistrial-by-...
Did ChatGPT train on The Day of the Locust? Here's my latest on the Palisades Fire for @lareported.bsky.social and the parallels between the painting in the novel & the actual inferno. Plus new stuff about the man who was accused of starting the fire. #booksky lareported.substack.com/p/palisades-...
The ICE agent who killed Johan Guerrero in Maine was an Afghan war vet with a history of domestic violence. The two girls I wrote about in my new @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social piece were killed by a Gulf War vet with a history of rape. #booksky #twentyninepalms washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/15/a...
New piece at @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social about Twentynine Palms, its 25th anniversary, and the news of sexual violence that breaks every day, from Virginia Giuffre and beyond. "If anyone had listened to Tammy, Mandi and Rosie would be alive." #booksky washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/15/a...
A Marine, Two Murders, and a War on Women
“Twentynine Palms,” a book deaths near a California Marine base, exposed sexual violence. Some things are better now, many are not.
washingtonmonthly.com
Winner 2026 LA Press Club Award for national political commentary, online, for my Washington Monthly piece, "Alligator Alcatraz: The Ice Detention Center Is a Sin Against Nature." My third LAPC award. @losangelespress.bsky.social @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social washingtonmonthly.com/2025/07/15/a...
A must read: A layer cake of a story, and the tip of the iceberg of a bigger, deeper one. Brava, Deanne.
Deanne Stillman@deanne5.bsky.social · last mo.For the 150th anniversary of the Little Bighorn Battle. "When I first visited the site, I experienced something so mysterious that I don’t think I’ll ever recover. The battlefield should be a required visit for all of us." @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social #booksky washingtonmonthly.com/2026/06/25/t...
"A few years ago, I was giving a talk about Blood Brothers in Wyoming. A woman approached me after everyone else had left and leaned in, whispering. 'I didn’t know Sitting Bull didn’t kill Custer,' she said. 'That’s what they told us in school.'" #booksky washingtonmonthly.com/2026/06/25/t...
The Battle of Little Bighorn and Why It Never Ends
Custer’s last stand was 150 years ago. As America wrestles with its 250th birthday, this commemoration also cuts to the heart of who we are.
washingtonmonthly.com
For the 150th anniversary of the Little Bighorn Battle. "When I first visited the site, I experienced something so mysterious that I don’t think I’ll ever recover. The battlefield should be a required visit for all of us." @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social #booksky washingtonmonthly.com/2026/06/25/t...
I never met the Obamas, but my books were in proximity, at Collection Antiques and Books in Pacific Palisades (Blood Brothers) and at Barnes and Noble at Union Square in NYC (Blood Brothers). A copy of Mustang that I signed for Obama was given directly to him by a Democratic Party donor. #booksky
JD Vance is a man of faith, sez his new memoir. But the guy almost started a Civil War. As I wrote here, warfare is his legacy. In his 1st memoir he talks about a cousin who started the war btwn the Hatfields & McCoys. That struck me as key. #booksky authorsfordemocracy.substack.com/p/jd-vance-a...
JD Vance And The White Trashing Of America
A guest post by Deanne Stillman
authorsfordemocracy.substack.com
Upon the 25th anniversary of Twentynine Palms, an LA Times "best book of the year" which Hunter Thompson called "A strange and brilliant story by an important American writer." #authorsky #booksky
Whether it’s Donald Trump turning the White House grounds into a trashy UFC shithole or Jimmy Carter wearing a cardigan to a fireside chat, both men degraded the presidency.
@latimes.com op-ed upon publication of Mustang, calling for a moratorium on roundups of #wildhorses, still underway now, as we approach #America250, and the govt deploys the horses as symbols of freedom in #July4th PR, even as it tries to wipe them out. #authorsky www.latimes.com/archives/la-...
Wild horses aren't free
Failure to enforce a 1971 law endangers the mustangs it was supposed to protect.
latimes.com
Screening today of "Taxi Driver" at the Tribeca Film Festival for its 50th anni. In American Confidential, about Lee Harvey Oswald & his mother, I wrote that Oswald was "America's first Travis Bickle." See @dailybeast.bsky.social intvw w/Bill Morris. #booksky www.thedailybeast.com/lee-harvey-o...
Lee Harvey Oswald Was America’s First Travis Bickle
Author Deanne Stillman talks to The Daily Beast about her new book that explores the relationship between Oswald and his monster of a mother.
thedailybeast.com
Is gun violence baked into America's DNA? And what is the way out? Those are questions explored in my play "Reflections in a D'Back's Eye," at the Long Beach Shakespeare Company New Works Festival," June 6/7. See this very nice Broadway World item. #theatresky www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/...
This weekend: my play "Reflections in a D'Back's Eye," a true story about a mass shooting, baseball, the Grand Canyon, Coltrane, ancient myth, fast food, minerals and gems, & the Bill of Rights. Semi-finalist for the Echo Theater New Play Writing Competition (2024); has won other awards. #theatresky
Announcement for my film, "Marilyn Monroe Flees Her Crypt When Hugh Hefner Is Buried Next Door." He really is - and MM can't take it any more. #marilynmonroe #filmsky
How did Marilyn Monroe feel about being a great icon? In my film "Marilyn Monroe Flees Her Crypt When Hugh Hefner Is Buried Next Door," she breaks out of fame prison and runs away with the mountain lions of LA. An @indiexpt.bsky.social Best Experimental Short. #filmsky Trailer: vimeo.com/944552498
Marilyn Monroe Flees Her Crypt Teaser
This is "Marilyn Monroe Flees Her Crypt Teaser" by Butcher Bird Studios on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
vimeo.com
Marilyn Monroe's 100th birthday is on June 1, with many things going on around her. I've written about her over the years, starting with this piece about the auction of the "Happy Birthday" dress ("should be donated to the Smithsonian, not sold off"). #marilynmonroe www.nytimes.com/1999/09/26/a...
"Reflections in a D'Back's Eye," June 6/7, Long Beach Shakespeare Company New Works Festival. "An experimental work that blends myth/real-world tragedy, about the mass shooting that wounded Gabby Giffords and killed a little girl who loved baseball." #theatresky www.presstelegram.com/2026/05/28/t...
Blood Brothers in a true crime book club, as opposed to history. Tomorrow at the Papillion Library, Omaha. Well, if ever there was a true crime, it was Wounded Knee: the greatest number of casualties in a mass shooting in US history. See Newsweek excerpt. #booksky www.papillion.org/833/Book-Clubs
"Reflections in a D'Back's Eye" is in the Long Beach Shakespeare Company New Works Festival in June. About the mass shooting in which Gabby Giffords was wounded and a little girl who loved baseball was killed. Enter the Grand Canyon/Coltrane. Tix here. #theatresky www.lbshakespeare.org/events/136729
I'm a finalist in two categories for an @lapressclub.bsky.social Award. First, for "Alligator Alcatraz Is a Sin Against Nature," in the @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social, for Political Commentary, National. Pic is of Big Cypress Preserve, where the ICE center is. washingtonmonthly.com/2025/07/15/a...
For the 2nd year in a row, I have a play in the Long Beach Shakespeare Company's New Works Festival, on 6/6-7. It's "Reflections in a D'Back's Eye," re gun violence in the US via the mass shooting in which Gabby Giffords was wounded and a little girl killed. Set against the Grand Canyon. #theatresky
For #America250. Kirkus starred, Newsweek excerpt, winner Ohioana Award for best nonfiction. "Best book of the year" - True West Magazine; the millions. Praised by @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, Lakota Times, Austin Chronicle. @simonandschuster.bsky.social #booksky
