The Outsider with the Public Voice: How Joan Didion Mirrored Us Back to Ourselves

“From the first, her work insisted that a single life contained the life of our times.”

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Beatrix Potter, Mycologist: The Beloved Children’s Book Author’s Little-Known Scientific Studies and Illustrations of Mushrooms

“Imagination is the precursor to policy, the precondition to action. Imagination, like wonder, allows us to value something.”

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Peanuts and the Quiet Pain of Childhood: How Charles M. Schulz Made an Art of Difficult Emotions

“[Charlie Brown] reminded people, as no other cartoon character had, of what it was to be vulnerable, to be small and alone in the universe, to be human — both little and big at the same time.”

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A Burst of Delight and Recognition: E.E. Cummings, the Art of Noticing, and the Spirit of Rebellion

“Cummings despised fear, and his life was lived in defiance of all who ruled by it.”

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The Adulterous Society: How John Updike Made Suburban Sex Sexy

“There is no such thing as static happiness. Happiness is a mixed thing, a thing compounded of sacrifices, and losses, and betrayals.”

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