About Mossbunker Review.
Fertilizer Fish? The oily, bony, virtuous Mossbunker. (Photo by Brian Gratwicke from Flickr)
The Mossbunker Review contains stories from history, literature, and letters. You will also find essays and other nourishing matter. If you would rather listen to the stories, many posts here have an audio pod at the end of the content.
A mossbunker is a fish known as the Atlantic Menhaden (Brevoortia Tyrannus). The name 'mossbunker' is a corruption of the Dutch 'marsbanker.' Discover magazine once called the mossbunker 'the most important fish in the sea.' These significant fish are filter feeders. Traveling in large, dense, and slow-moving schools, menhaden are not human food—too oily and bony—although humans use them for vitamins. Native Americans may have instructed the Pilgrims to 'plant' these fish beside their crop seed as fertilizer. The Algonquian tribe called the mossbunker 'munnawhatteaûg,' something like 'fertilizer fish.' Yet the mossbunker is a significant food source for many species of birds and fish. Not a coveted sport fish nor an aquarium beauty, people took mossbunkers for granted. The marine ecosystem suffered when their numbers began to deplete. The demise of the mossbunker could spell doom for other species and humans.
Verily, verily I say unto you, Except the wheat corn fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. -Jesus, quoted in John 12:24, Geneva Bible
Our society caters to youth, yet people over fifty could be mossbunker-like, the most crucial segment of society. Wisdom and experience, like scarce nutrients, inhabit the older population. In the days left to us, we elders can enrich the world and bless the next generations. That is, if the younger generations have the wisdom to see it.
Thus, the motto of this site is solo ditandum, 'Enrich the soil.' Mossbunker Review, like its namesake, seeks to enrich. May it encourage and delight you during these days of your most important mission!
Mossbunker Ranch
Arnold, Nebraska
Easter 2020
P.S. If you are curious about the person who created this website, keep scrolling down to the bottom of the page! By the way, I am grateful to Deputy Stephen Alexander of the Youth Relations Bureau of the Collier County (FL) Sheriff’s Office for pointing out that the previous photo on this page was not a school of Mosbunker. I have corrected the error.
Liam lives, works, and writes in America’s Heartland.
Who is behind Mossbunker Review?
MR is the idea of Liam Atchison, a historian and former professor.
Liam co-edited the book Civil Religion and American Christianity (Newport: Stone Tower Press, 2020). He has also written and edited other books, monographs, and journal articles.
Liam received his Ph.D. from Kansas State University. At K-State, he studied under the historian Robert D. Linder (1933-2021), author of The Fountain of Public Prosperity (Melbourne: Monash, 2019) and many other wonderful history books. Liam is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and several other honorary societies. In addition, he was a founding editor of Mars Hill Review, a literary and cultural journal.
Liam was born in Leavenworth, Kansas. In forty-five years of marriage, he and his wife, Precious, have resided in four major American cities and one classic college town west of the Mississippi. They now live in Arnold, Nebraska (Population 593) with their Schnoodle Emma. Liam works in a writer’s studio inspired by the one in popular historian David McCullough’s backyard. It is no surprise that Liam’s 120-square-foot studio is called Mossbunker Ranch. This is meant to be humorous, as central Nebraska is a region of immense cattle operations and farms. This postage-stamp-sized ranch is a story ranch. Tenderfeet are welcome!