Welcome to Daniel Linden Duke Literary Sphere

It's not as if I had a choice. I write because I must. Writing is my mask and my mirror. It's always been the way I make sense of my life and my world. Writing, of course, is not my only obsession. It would mean little without family, friends, and a good Manhattan now and then. For fifty years, teaching was my main source of inspiration: American, African-American, and African history at first, then sociology, organizational history, leadership theory, and educational change later on. I held professorial positions at Lewis & Clark College, Stanford University, and the University of Virginia. Along the way, I discovered that my voice sometimes got lost between the text and the test. I came to realize that a well-crafted story often hits closer to the truth than an analytical study. Fiction now affords me the freedom to interrogate issues and insights that dwell within many of us. Besides, writing beats the hell out of mowing the lawn.