Seated comfortably amid books on art and architecture, author and philanthropist Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel relaxes in the library of her elegant Park Avenue apartment. Throughout the afternoon, she speaks passionately about her work on the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the preservation community, and how some of the worst disasters in history have shaped the […]
Heather Bobrow
Heather Bobrow is a freelance writer who lives in New York.
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The U.K.’s Abu Ghraib
Caroline Elkins, author of Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya, tells The American Prospect‘s Heather Bobrow how she found out about the the systemized violence used against Kenyan natives in detention camps from 1952 to 1960. Can you give some brief historical background on Mau Mau? Mau Mau was a grass-roots […]
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Mr. Weschler’s Cabinet of Wonder
As evidenced by Lawrence Weschler’s latest book, the juxtaposition of the unexpected can be an engaging and startling affair. Including pieces from over the past twenty years, Vermeer in Bosnia incorporates such various works as a profile of Roman Polanski, a commentary on the light in Los Angeles, and a reflection on Weschler’s daughter’s eyes. […]
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Coming Home
U.S. prisons release more than 600,000 people every year. Former prisoners may not have access to public housing, student loans, a driver’s license, parental rights, welfare benefits, certain jobs, or the right to vote. Jennifer Gonnerman’s first book, Life on the Outside, chronicles three and a half years in the life of Elaine Bartlett, a […]