Could anyone tell me what "hankers back to" means in the following?
Following a writing career spent mostly recounting Michigan’s collegiate sports world, New York Times bestseller John U. Bacon hankers back to a bachelor’s history degree for his latest, The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism.
I'd appreciate your help.
The phrase means to look back favorably or longingly on something in one's past. In some cases, there may also be some idealizing or romanticizing of the retrospection.
In this case, the author is revisiting his days as an undergraduate history major by choosing to write about a historical event for his latest book. This is a departure from his normal work writing about sports current events. So in this context, the author is being said to show favor for this earlier position in life as a student, over his current lot as a sportswriter.
