By Ruth Henrich via GoFundMe

David Talbot is one of progressive journalism’s most tireless and impassioned voices.  For decades now, he has been holding American power accountable as well as fighting for those who are suffering its effects – through his books, journalism, and community activism. Now he needs our help.

On November 18, David’s work was interrupted when he suffered a stroke. His prospects for recovery are excellent — his cognitive abilities are completely intact. But he has motor deficits that will require months of intense physical rehabilitation before he can work again. Like most writers, his income is dependent on writing, and he won’t be able to write for a while. His wife, Camille, who is also a writer, will need to devote much of her time to his care.

We are raising funds to help David and his family get through this crucial year. Your support will help alleviate medical expenses and allow him to get the rest and rehab time he needs to recover fully, without additionally worrying about how to survive financially.

(David and his son Nathaniel at Standing Rock Indian Reservation.)

David’s work, life, and indomitable spirit are an inspiration to many people. He is loved for his sparkling wit and generosity. With his wife, Camille, he has opened his home to a roving band of artists, activists, and young people who need a helping hand, and who feel at home because David and his family are so very good at making them feel that way. He was preparing an Italian lunch for some of them when he began to feel ill.

We want and need David to regain his magnetic exuberance and his wonderful ability to stir up all the best kinds of trouble! We know he has much more to tell us, including about this experience. (From his hospital bed, he has already described the stroke as a cross between a spiritual awakening and a brutal barroom beating.)

(A young David in his press cap.)

Since he was a senior editor at Mother Jones in the 1980s, David has been tirelessly carrying out journalism’s mission to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. As the founder of Salon.com in 1995, he helped to create online journalism. His bestselling books Brothers and The Devil’s Chessboard explored the lives and deaths of the Kennedys and the corruption and excess of American power at home and abroad. His 2012 book Season of the Witch, an enthralling history of San Francisco as a capital of tolerance and transgression, was on the San Francisco Chronicle best-seller list for five years. It has become a touchstone for San Franciscans trying to keep those values alive amid techie gentrification and Trump-cast darkness.

As a former Chronicle columnist and community activist, David has also been a leader in the movement to keep San Francisco affordable and humane. And he has served up wry, incisive political commentary as well as providing a home for like-minded souls in his closely-followed Facebook posts.

David has devoted his life to bringing to light a hidden history of American iniquity, and the critics, dreamers and rebels who fought against it. Before his stroke, he was working on a new book that extolls courageous leadership in the face of darkness. We appreciate any gift you are able to give as David faces his own dark personal time. With your help and good wishes, we know he will recover and continue to fight the good fight.

(SF Chronicle town hall with BLM co-founder Alicia Garza, Audrey Cooper, Laura Guzman, Becky Bond and Dan Schnur.)

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