Joan Didion, who died last week at the age of 87, helped shape a highly personal brand of nonfiction that came to be known as the New Journalism. Her early essay collections "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" (1968) and "The White Album" (1979) influenced generations of writers. Her later memoirs, "The Year of Magical Thinking" and "Blue Nights," chronicled the deaths of her husband and daughter. In 2011 Didion talked with Steve Paulson about illness and growing old in the wake of the death of her daughter, Quintana.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Jane Goodall is the name best known in the world when you talk about chimpanzees.
One of this summer's hot new reads is Dean Bakopoulos' new novel, "Summerlong." It's the story of Claire and Don Lowry. They've been married for a long time. And they're now back in the college town where they met -- Grinnell, Iowa. Claire wanted to be a writer but wound up a stay-at-home mom, while Don is a real estate agent. When we meet them, they're deeply in debt and unbeknownst to Claire, they're also behind on their mortgage. And then everything begins to fall apart.
Food is certainly the most palatable expression of culture, and the most easily shared.
LA Times food critic Jonathan Gold has spent his career seeking out the best plates of authentic – or reinterpreted - culture. In this UNCUT interview, he talks with Anne Strainchamps about food in translation.
It'll get your stomach growling, so have some snacks handy!
Maybe Mr. Rogers was right and every neighbor is a potential friend – someone worth inviting over, getting to know. On the other hand, maybe the weird guy next door will turn out to be Jeffrey Dahmer.
Neil McCormick believed he was going to be the world’s biggest rock star, but that’s what happened to his childhood friend, Bono.
Celtic historian John Matthews tells Steve Paulson that Merlin probably was a real person and that wizards are related to our ancient shamans.
The World Cup is on our minds this week so we revisit Steve Paulson's conversation with Franklin Foer re. his book, "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization."
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