John Murdock

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John Murdock is an attorney and globetrotting localist who worked for over a decade in Washington, D.C.; left the Capital Beltway to write from a family farmhouse deep in the heart of the Lone Star state; taught law in South Korea; and then rode the housing waves of Boise. In 2023, John left the crisp dry air of Idaho and returned to the stifling humidity of his native east Texas. His writing is catalogued at johnmurdock.org.

Recent Essays

Braver Angels and Civil Conversation across Partisan Divides

John Murdock - October 5, 2020

If you resonate with the conversation below and the aims of Braver Angels, consider signing their new letter: What We Will Do to Hold...

Anti-Prophets of Doom: A Review of Michael Shellenberger’s Apocalypse Never

John Murdock - September 18, 2020

What would be helpful is a book that acknowledge both sets of trends and moves beyond name-calling to begin the hard work of engaging in the tensions and trade-offs between them. Beneficial too would be a clear-eyed encounter with the fact that measures of human happiness and fulfillment have not skyrocketed along with our greater health and wealth. People need more than just more stuff.

Spiritual Dangers in the Trump Era

John Murdock - August 31, 2020

One of the spiritual dangers of Trump is that he can come to be seen as the only danger. Such “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” logic then leads to the temptation to overlook the problems posed by the other side.

Coming to Ourselves in 2020

John Murdock - June 10, 2020

Of course, Amash may well not win, but that really is not the point. The prodigal son had limited hopes when he said goodbye to the pigs, but he had come to himself and he was heading home regardless.

Journeys in Trump Country

John Murdock - January 24, 2020

More interesting than the big-name hits and misses, though, are the everyday but often extraordinary people that she meets along the way. Some are firmly in the Trump camp; some are frustrated by their friends who are; and some are somewhere in the complicated middle.

The Yankee Southern Agrarian

John Murdock - May 8, 2019

Wendell Berry, while still writing more than most of us, is squarely in the awards and laurels stage of his earthly journey. Who...

The Green New Deal Comes Home

John Murdock - March 4, 2019

The risks associated with global warming are real, if chronically overstated by many on the left, and the response will require a soberness that is sorely lacking across the political spectrum.

The Dryers are Coming! The Dryers are Coming!

John Murdock - July 9, 2017

South Korea lives on the cutting edge of technology -- just ask the young smart-phone zombies that slowly roam the campus where I teach....

Saving Trees Across The Ocean

John Murdock - November 3, 2015

The view from above was one of devastation, even if it was the pregnant devastation of a construction site that is not what it...

Saving Life on Mars, and in Appalachia

John Murdock - October 22, 2015

Recently, I watched as the people of Earth came together to bring The Martian home. Interstellar, Gravity, and Wall-E all tell the “lost in...

The Pope and the Plowman

John Murdock - July 3, 2015

Wendell Berry and Pope Francis have been drinking from the same well of living water. I dig into the connections between the pope and...

The Incredible Industrial Egg

John Murdock - June 25, 2015

The local library’s inventory reduction sale had progressed over several weeks from a buck a book and a dollar a DVD, to two dollars...