{"title":"Steve Lopez","description":"Steve Lopez is the author of several books, including The Sunday Macaroni Club and The Soloist. In 2009, The Soloist was made into a movie starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Lopez is a columnist with the Los Angeles Times and lives in California.","products":[{"product_id":"third-and-indiana-paperback","title":"Third and Indiana - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the Philadelphia neighborhood known as the Badlands, drug gangs rule absolutely. Each time a life is lost in the carnage of the local drug wars, a boldly drawn chalk outline of a body appears on the street leading up to City hall: a teenaged dealer, a priest, a little girl with a jump rope. Ofelia Santoro rides her bicycle through the dark, decaying streets, looking for her fourteen-year-old-son, Gabriel. She's afraid of what she might find. Gabriel has fallen in with the most savage of the drug dealers, but now wants to get out--if he can. In this gritty, fast-moving novel, acclaimed \u003ci\u003ePhiladelphia Inquirer \u003c\/i\u003ecolumnist Steve Lopez brings home the violence that is scarring America's vast urban wastelands, and the humanity that might save them. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"An unfancy prose is streaked by strong, cinematic images . . . Lopez aims to prick consciences, in the tradition of the documentary novelist, and he does so with considerable style.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Lopez has done what Balzac, Dickens . . . and Dostoevsky did so masterfully: he has taken a torch to the back of the cave and returned to tell us what he has seen.\" -Pete Hamill, \u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer \u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51374771863775,"sku":"9780140239454","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Y89RBfgEpv9780140239454.webp?v=1789186074"},{"product_id":"independence-day-what-i-learned-about-retirement-from-some-whove-done-it-and-some-who-never-will-paperback","title":"Independence Day: What I Learned about Retirement from Some Who've Done It and Some Who Never Will - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Steve Lopez is insightful, ingenious, and often hilarious as he navigates one of life's biggest questions.\" --Michael Connelly, #1 \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Dark Hours\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFour-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and longtime \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/em\u003e columnist Steve Lopez explores the meaning of work and how it defines us in this captivating book that combines memoir, investigatory interviews, and practical application.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrappling with his own decision of whether to retire, Lopez uses his reporter skills not only to look inward but also to interview experts and peers to collect a variety of perspectives as he examines the true nature of a person's time, identity, and ultimate life satisfaction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eIndependence Day\u003c\/em\u003e, Lopez talks to those who have chosen to extend their working life to its (il)logical extreme--people like Mel Brooks, still working at 94--those who have happily retired and reinvented themselves outside of the constraints of work, and those who would like to retire but can't because of financial constraints. He also turns to professionals on the matter, like two aging scientists, a geriatric specialist, and a psychiatrist, to understand the research-based reasons to retire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith his trademark poignancy, wisdom, and humor, Lopez establishes a useful polemic for himself and others in planning ahead, as he also evaluates questions of identity, financial limitations, and ultimately what to do with your life when the obituary pages are no longer filled with strangers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51380525531359,"sku":"9780785290117","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/TtuLvMitPg9780785290117.webp?v=1789279254"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/steve-lopez.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}