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

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)

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.