Karen Armstrong

Exiles: A Novel by Ron Hansen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 228 pp., $23) THE GREAT Sicilian mystery writer Leonardo Sciascia once quipped, "A man who dies tragically is, at any moment of his life, a man who will die tragically." For the historical novelist,...

Classes: I teach ninth-grade research and inquiry skills for success in college and 12th-grade Advanced Placement micro- and macroeconomics, as well as other levels of economics at Seabreeze High School. Education and experience: I received my bachelor's...

Scholar and writer Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) understood the power of mythology and its workings on our psyches -- even in a seemingly spiritless modern world. Now comes a Greek chorus of authors to back him up, putting their contemporary spin on such...

LOS ANGELES, March 10, 2005 – Best-selling mystery writer Tony Hillerman, whose writings over the past 35 years are infused with the landscape and culture of the American Southwest, has been named the winner of the 25th annual Los Angeles Times Book...

LOS ANGELES, April 23, 2005 – The Los Angeles Times presented its annual Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement and honored nine Book Prize winners during its 25th annual Book Prizes ceremony, April 22 at UCLA's Royce Hall. Best-selling mystery...

As the fiery orange sun sinks behind the mountains, the stones of the 800-year-old Alhambra take on a rosy glow. Against the backdrop of the snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada, the fortress' rugged towers stand out in the gathering dusk. As the lights...

The 18th-century British historian Edward Gibbon had no doubt that the victory of French leader Charles “The Hammer” Martel over Muslim armies in France in 732 A.D. had changed the course of world history. In his “The Decline and Fall of the Roman...