The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup
The profiles in this collection range from skater Tonya Harding and designer Bill Blass to Spain's pre-eminent female matador and New York City's pre-eminent vendor of ceiling fans. The metaphors in these wryly detached yet not dispassionate observations rarely miss. (Blass is described as someone who "no matter where he is, he looks as if he might be standing on the deck of a big sailboat.") But just as evocative as Orlean's sketches of people are her renderings of place. The portrait of Harding's hometown in Clackamas County, Ore., reveals as much about the skater as her words and deeds do themselves.
Most Popular »
- Top 10 Celebrity Restaurants
- Facing the Challenge of China, Should India Embrace the U.S.?
- Pennsylvania College Sells 'Morning After' Pills in Vending Machine
- The Grand Canyon Bans Sales of Bottled Water
- Mitt Romney's Sweet Spot: Just Conservative Enough
- Earth From Above: The Blue Marble
- JC Penney and Ellen, Lowe's and All-American Muslim: A Tale of Two Bigotries
- Four Ways the U.S. Could End Up at War with Iran Before the Election*
- 'Glitter-Bombing' a Politician Could Get You Six Months in Jail
- Why Is Your Boss Moving to Brazil?
- The Upside Of Being An Introvert (And Why Extroverts Are Overrated)
- The Brain: How The Brain Rewires Itself
- Egypt's NGO Crisis: How Will U.S. Aid Play in the Controversy?
- Why Is Your Boss Moving to Brazil?
- Friends With Benefits
- Seoul Searching
- New York City: 10 Things to Do
- Pentagon Rules 'Shift' on Women in Combat
- Haiti Papers Over the Past: The Rebranding of 'Baby Doc' Duvalier
- In Singapore, Finding Peace Among the Pain of Thaipusam
More News from Our Partners
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
DAVID CAMERON, British Prime Minister, on England's soccer manager, Fabio Capello, who resigned after challenging the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy; Terry denies a charge of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand
