P.J. O’Rourke, the conservative satirist and political commentator who was unafraid to skewer Democrats and Republicans alike in best-selling books like “Parliament of Whores,” in articles for a wide range of magazines and newspapers, and on television and radio talk shows, died on Tuesday at his home in Sharon, N.H. He was 74. Read more
Category: Obituaries
Joan Didion, ‘New Journalist’ Who Explored Culture and Chaos, Dies at 87
Joan Didion, whose mordant dispatches on California culture and the chaos of the 1960s established her as a leading exponent of the New Journalism, and whose novels “Play It as It Lays” and “The Book of Common Prayer” proclaimed the arrival of a tough, terse, distinctive voice in American fiction, died on Thursday at her home in Manhattan. She was 87. Read more
Anne Rice, Who Spun Gothic Tales of Vampires, Dies at 80
She wrote more than 30 novels, including the best seller “Interview With the Vampire,” which became a hit movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Read more
Stephen Sondheim, Titan of the American Musical, Is Dead at 91
He was the theater’s most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century and the driving force behind some of Broadway’s most beloved and celebrated shows. Read more
Timuel Black, historian, civil rights activist, dies at 102
Mr. Black, a political and civil rights activist, educator, historian, prolific author and revered elder statesman and griot of Chicago’s Black community, died Wednesday. Read more
Janet Malcolm, Provocative Journalist With a Piercing Eye, Dies at 86
Janet Malcolm, a longtime writer for The New Yorker who was known for her piercing judgments, her novel-like nonfiction and a provocative moral certainty that cast a cold eye on journalism and its practitioners, died on Wednesday in a hospital in Manhattan. She was 86. Read more
Eric Carle, Author of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ Dies at 91
A self-described “picture writer,” he wrote and illustrated more than 70 books for young children, selling more than 170 million copies. Read more
Fred Jordan, Publisher of Taboo-Breaking Books, Dies at 95
At Grove Press, he and Barney Rosset challenged censors as they popularized D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and others. Read more
Al Young, Poet With a Musical Bent, Is Dead at 81
Mr. Young, who served for three years as California’s poet laureate and also wrote about jazz, was known for his readings, which often incorporated music. Read more
Denis Donoghue, Humanist Literary Critic, Dies at 92
He wrote prodigiously while teaching, first in Dublin and then in New York, and often clashed with critics he considered too political. Read more
