The skill of William Saroyan (1908-1981), American short-story writer, dramatist, and novelist, in evoking mood and atmosphere was noteworthy, and his imaginary world, peopled with common men, was warm and compelling. William Saroyan was born in Fresno,...

In the spring of 1939, when the work of William Saroyan first reached the New York stage in the form of a one-act play entitled My Heart's in the Highlands, Sidney B. Whipple of the New York World-Telegram accused Saroyan and his producers of conducting...

Growing up in an Armenian immigrant community in the San Joaquin Valley of California with both of his grandmothers as storytellers was a propitious circumstance for William Saroyan's career as a writer. Witnessing the behavior of an individualistic, fre...

Why Jane Jacobs' followers still misunderstand her most important contributions to urban thought THE DAY AFTER HER DEATH IN APRIL, newspapers across North America eulogized Jane Jacobs. Reporters and op-ed writers praised her masterwork, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, as...

The troubled life of rapper Tupac Shakur was cut short just at the time he was beginning to emerge as an international superstar rapper and staking his claim in the financial market with hot lyrical hits one after the other. It was on...

People are still drowning in New Orleans. It’s a year later and the waters have receded but those of us who waded through it carry the flood in our eyes. Driving through New Orleans, I see dry streets, clean cars, and people walking and catch...