A book launch and signing for Tributes & Tirades is set for July 26, 2013, at the Bareiss Gallery, State Road 150, Taos, from 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is free, and books will be available for sale. Silver will also read from his work as part of the Summer Writer’s Series at SOMOS on August 28.

Tributes & Tirades: Taos Life and American Politics, is a thoughtful and compelling book of essays by Robert J. Silver, Taos resident and frequent contributor to the Taos News.

Beginning with his first essay in December 2009, titled “For the Soul of a Nation,” Silver has added his thoughtful voice to the important issues of our political times. His new work includes 20 essays devoted to politics and another 10 pieces of musings on “Taos Life,” as well as two closing essays offering inspirational thoughts.

“For better or worse, I seem to have adopted a personal mission to ‘comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable’,” says Silver. Taking a quote from his book, he adds, “With talented young people as inspiration, how could we not also be willing to speak, to sing, to write, to dance, to march, to hope, and to dream? How could we not let our voices be heard?”

When asked how he chooses his topics, Silver replied, “The topics choose me. With few exceptions I never decide a priori to write about a particular topic. Events or experiences evoke something in me that ultimately seems to compel written expression. I had even thought about subtitling the book ‘an accidental essayist.’ It’s the transformational magic of Taos.”

Silver enjoyed a four-decade career in clinical and forensic psychology, including academic appointments at Illinois State University and The University of Texas-Austin, along with an active clinical and forensic-psychology practice (www.robertsilverpsychology.com). He and his wife, abstract painter Dianne Frost, became residents of Taos in 1999, permanently relocating here in 2008. He continues to practice forensic psychology while pursuing his love of creative writing.