John Steinbeck

Flowers with a card, a surprise pair of plane tickets, a lovingly crafted mix tape -- these are among the time-honored tools of courtship available to the average mortal. But how about a darkly comic two-act play about tensions and flirtations among...

William Doyle Accused of war atrocities William Doyle, 75, who led an Army unit accused of killing hundreds of civilians during the Vietnam War, died Nov. 6 at a hospital in Springfield, Mo., of complications from chronic lung disease. The Kansas City,...

The nearly $800 a night it costs to stay in a recently renovated cottage at the San Ysidro Ranch wouldn't raise the pulse of many guests at this Montecito Elysium. For the rest of us, let's be real; $800 is probably three evenings out, two months of...

Monterey, California Happy 50th Cannery Row! In 1958, the city renamed a chunk of Ocean View Avenue in honor of John Steinbeck's namesake novel. A new hotel--the Intercontinental Clement Monterey--opens in June along with a new Imax theater. Here's the...

"The Journals of John Cheever" edited by Robert Gottlieb (Vintage) "Good Friday. I neither fast nor make any observations of this somber time. I roam from the post office to the church, unsober. The central altar is dark, but on the left the priest has...

By Marianne Wiggins The winners of the National Book Awards were announced this month -- did anyone notice? Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, Tony, Golden Globe: award shows deemed worthy of TV. But what about the poor relation at the table -- books? Anybody want to...

THE OTHER night, while channel surfing, I happened upon the famous final scene from John Ford's classic film, "The Grapes of Wrath." Hearing Henry Fonda's inspirational words about always being present, if only in spirit, whenever injustice was...

The unfortunate thing about revisiting "The Grapes of Wrath" is that John Steinbeck's Depression-era classic about a displaced Dust Bowl family does not merely conjure up the social ills of a distant historical chapter in a remote, informative way....

Words & Ideas TODAY Tongue & Groove Conrad Romo hosts this monthly reading series. The latest installment will feature Chiwan Choi, Chris Kerr, Doug Cordell, Pat Payne and Nancy Pimental, with music by Les July. www.tongueandgroovela.com. Hotel Cafe,...

27th annual Steinbeck Festival: "A Culture of Discontent: Steinbeck and the 1960s" mines '60s culture with activities that include an exhibit of rock posters, a street fair and dinner, and talks about the connection between author John Steinbeck and pop...

How do you get reliable information about hurricanes headed toward your vacation destination? That question may have been on travelers' minds early last week as resorts in Cancún, Cozumel and areas along the Riviera Maya on Mexico's eastern coast cleaned...

Rimmon C. Fay, a marine scientist and longtime Venice Beach lifeguard who devoted his life to saving the Santa Monica Bay from pollution and other assaults, has died. He was 78. Fay died of a heart attack at Berkley West Convalescent Hospital in Santa...