Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian Miriam Pawel talks about her biographies of Jerry Brown and Cesar Chavez, and how she works to interpret California for folks nationwide.
Miriam Pawel is the author of The Browns of California, The Union of Their Dreams, and The Crusades of Cesar Chavez.
Part of what I think is important about my work is that I try to translate California for people who do not live here—particularly people on the East Coast. I always say that I understand what they think of California because I was one of them. [I] really began to write about California because I found it such a fascinating place and, in many ways, a misunderstood one.
Notes and references from this episode:
@miriampawel, Twitter
The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement, by Miriam Pawel
The Crusades of Cesar Chavez, by Miriam Pawel
The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty That Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, by Miriam Pawel
Miriam Pawel - NY Times Opinion archive
The First Lady, by Stu VanAirsdale, Sactown magazine
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