In March 1986， while living in Brooklyn， Chris Bohjalian and his wife were cab-napped on a Saturday night and taken on a forty-five-minute joy ride in which the driver ignored all traffic lights and stop signs. Around midnight he deposited the young couple on a near-deserted street， where police officers were about to storm a crack house. Bohjalian and his wife were told to hit the ground for their own protection. While lying on the pavement， Bohjalian s wife suggested that perhaps it was time to move to New England.Months later they traded in their co-op in Brooklyn for a century-old Victorian house in Lincoln， Vermont (population 975)， and Bohjalian began chronicling life in that town in a wide variety of magazine essays and in his newspaper column， "Idyll Banter."These pieces， written weekly for twelve years and collected here for the first time， serve as a diary of both this writer s life and how America has been transformed in the last decade. Rich with idiosyncratic universals that come with being a parent， a child， and a spouse， Chris Bohjalian s personal observations are a reflection of our own common experience."Chris Bohjalian is a terrific columnist—thoughtful and thought-provoking. Just like me! No， really， this guy is good." —Dave Barry， author of Boogers Are My Beat“The best book I’ve ever read about life in a contemporary village. There’s no doubt that Chris Bohjalian has established himself as one of America’s finest， most thoughtful， and most humane writers.”—Howard Frank Mosher