On Demand
Survival Kit Archive
April 2003
Peter Mayle
Monday, April 28, 2003
In the mid-1980's, Peter Mayle did decide to drop out of the rat race; he fled the confines of his life as a London advertising executive, and moved to the south of France. In best-selling books, including A Year in Provence, Toujours Provence, French Lessons, and Hotel Pastis, he celebrated the relaxed way of life in his chosen home. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of his success was that it attracted unprecedented numbers of tourists to his new-found paradise, forcing him to escape, at least temporarily, to the United States. We’ve generously offered to put him up in a place where even his most ardent fans can’t find him; let’s hear what he’s packing for the trip.
David Halberstam
Sunday, April 06, 2003
David Halberstam won a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his reporting on the Vietnam War; his book The Best and the Brightest is considered the definitive work on that conflict. His other books, including The Powers That Be, The Reckoning, The Breaks of the Game, The Fifties, The Children, and War in a Time of Peace, have dissected the civil rights movement, U.S. foreign policy, professional and amateur sports, the power of the media and the automobile industry. What does this man, who has examined the workings of almost every aspect of American society, consider essential to his cultural survival? Let’s ask him.
