SARAH VOWELL is one of the great voices of public radio in America today for her work on This American Life. Now she’s gone on the road to find the locations of American political violence — and to ponder their lessons — in her new book Assassination Vacation.
PLUS: Agribusiness in California: it’s both an economic wonder and an intolerable human tragedy — RICHARD WALKER will explain. His new book is The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California. Mike Davis calls it “a magnificent and haunting study.”
READ Jon Wiener’s review of The Conquest of Bread in The Nation Apr. 11: www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050411&s=wiener
ALSO: First came collaboration and resistance in World War II — and then came public justice, and private score-settling. JOSEPH KANON has written about that world in his new thriller Alibi. Kanon has been praised as the next John le Carre’ and the heir apparent to Graham Greene.
MORE INFO: Sarah Vowell works with “826NYC,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their writing. 826 believes that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. Their free programs are challenging and enjoyable, and aim to strengthen each student’s power to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in his or her individual voice. There’s a branch in LA: 826LA.