Three Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America's Greatest Writers Book

Introduction

Beginnings

William Kennedy Robert Stone Pat Conroy William Styron Hortense Calisher Eudora Welty Larry McMurtry Maurice Sendak Amiri Baraka Richard Bausch Annie Dillard Brendan Gill Dons Grumbach Stephen Goodwin Gloria Naylor Joyce Carol Oates Mary Lee Settle Susan Sontag Reynolds Price Susan Richards Shreve

First Love

Pete Hamill Rita Mae Brown Christopher Buckley Allan Gurganus Thomas Caplan Reginald McKnight John Casey Elena Castedo Rita Dove Alice Hoffman Mona Simpson Kaye Gibbons William Kittredge Lee Smith Kichara Wiley Cynthia Ozick

Illusions

Grace Paley Jim Lehrer Robert Stone Russell Banks Susan Richards Shreve William Least Heat-Moon Lee Smith Tobias Wolff John Edgar Wideman Elmore Leonard Gay Talese Bette Bao Lord Ward Just Vasily Aksyonov

Obsession

David Bradley Robert Olen Butler Barry Hannah Jayne Anne Phillips George Plimpton Ernest Gaines Francine Prose Mary Lee Settle Ntozake Shange Elizabeth Spencer Scott Spencer Louis Begley Thomas Flanagan Maureen Howard

Heroes

Sue Miller Tim O'Brien Allan Gurganus T. Coraghessan Boyle George Garrett Gail Godwin Patricia Browning Griffith Terry McMillan Amy Tan Charles Johnson Beverly Lowry James Salter

Journeys

William Kennedy Jane Smiley Toby Olson Michael Chabon Alan Cheuse Maxine Clair Barbara Kingsolver E. Annie Proulx Susan Minot Kate Lehrer Walter Mosley Octavia E. Butler Denise Chávez

A Sense of Place

Eudora Welty Norman Mailer Bobbie Ann Mason John Edgar Wideman William W. Warner Blanche McCrary Boyd Ellen Douglas Shelby Foote Marita Golden Larry L. King Paule Marshall Peter Matthiessen Geoffrey Wolff

ardA Lesson

Francisco Goldman Alice Adams Richard Bausch Susan Isaacs Robert MacNeil Jill McCorkle K Ethelbert Miller Faye Moskowitz Lynne Sharon Schwartz Deborah Tannen Christopher Tilghman William Gass Mary Gordon Ward Just Gish Jen

Confessions

Tony Kushner Barry Lopez Kathryn Harrison David Ignatius Willie Morris Howard Norman Tina McElroy Ansa Robert Pinsky Alice McDermott Madison Smartt Bell Mary Karr Amy Tan

Reunion

Allan Gurganus Larry L. King John Casey Thomas Flanagan Maureen Howard Kate Lehrer Willie Morris Grace Paley Ntozake Shange Lee Smith Denise Chávez Kaye Gibbons

Endings

Herbert Gold Jane Hamilton Oscar Hijuelos Chang-rae Lee Claire Messud Francine Prose Richard Selzer Anita Shreve Calvin Trillin Edward Albee Rilla Askew Judy Blume Lorene Cary George Garrett