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Novelist Isabel Allende on Losing Her Daughter

Allende's first work of non-fiction, "Paula," is now a bestseller in paperback. The book was inspired when her 28 year old daughter fell into an irreversible coma. It began as a letter to her dying daughter and turned into an autobiographical work telling of life from Allende's childhood in Chile to her exile in Venezuela and her move to San Francisco. Publisher's Weekly says, "Only a writer of Allende's passion and skill could share her tragedy with her readers and leave them exhilarated and grateful." (ORIGINALLY BROADCAST 5/1/95)

21:50
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Other segments from the episode on July 26, 1996

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, July 26, 1996: Interview with Isabel Allende; Review of the album "The Complete Aladdin Recordings of Lester Young"; Obituary for Jessica Mitford.
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05:54

Rebutting the Myth of a Broken, Post-War Lester Young

Jazz Critic Keving Whitehead reviews a new re-issue of jazz saxophonist Lester Young. It's called "The Complete Aladdin Recordings of Lester Young" from Blue Note. Whitehead says these recordings from the 1940s prove that, contrary to popular belief, Young's playing remained intact after his military service.

Review
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21:19

Remembering Radical Writer Jessica Mitford

Mitford died of cancer at the age of 78 on Tuesday (July 23). She was considered one of the premiere investigative journalists of her day, a muckraker in the tradition of Sinclair Lewis and John Dos Passos. Her targets included the Famous Writers School, a Midwest correspondence school, and the U.S. penal system ("Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business"). Mitford's most recent book, "The American Way of Birth" (1992), declares that doctors perform too many C-Sections and de-legitimize midwifery.

Obituary

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22:46

Novelist Isabel Allende on Losing Her Daughter

Allende has published her first work of non-fiction, Paula. It's about her 28 year old daughter, who fell into an irreversible coma. Paula began as a letter to her dying daughter and turned into an autobiographical work about Allende's childhood in Chile, her exile in Venezuela and her move to San Francisco.

Interview
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22:43

Chilean Novelist Isabel Allende

Allende is one of the few women in the male-dominated literary world of Latin American. She's the niece of Chile's ousted President Salvador Allende, who was pushed out during a 1973 coup and assassinated. Isabel fled to Venezuela. She later moved to the U.S. after falling in love with an American, and now lives in California. Her new book, "The Infinite Plan," is her first about the United States.

Interview

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