In the spring of 2016, when things were getting just about their craziest in American politics, I was approached by the editor of the then-extant "Around Town" family of newspapers in the Big Sandy Valley of eastern Kentucky, to write a weekly column that would appear in all three papers: Around Paintsville, Around Prestonsburg, and Around Louisa. At first I wondered if I could write on demand in the fashion the papers required, with any degree...