‘Fahrenheit 451’ author dies at 91 ‘Fahrenheit 451’ author dies at 91 ADVERTISING LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ray Bradbury imagined the future, and didn’t always like what he saw. In his books, the science fiction-fantasy master conjured a dark, depressing
‘Fahrenheit 451’ author dies at 91
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ray Bradbury imagined the future, and didn’t always like what he saw.
In his books, the science fiction-fantasy master conjured a dark, depressing future where the government used fire departments to burn books in order to hold its people in ignorance and where racial hatred was so pervasive that some people left Earth for other planets.
At the same time, his work, just like the author himself, could also be joyful, whimsical and nostalgic, as when he was describing the magic of a Midwestern summer or the innocence and fearlessness of a boy who befriends a houseful of ghosts.
For more than 70 years, Bradbury, who died Tuesday at age 91, spun tales that appeared in books and magazines, in the movie theater and on the television screen, firing the imaginations of generations of children, college kids and grown-ups across the world.
He rose to literary fame in 1950 with “The Martian Chronicles,” a series of intertwined stories that satirized capitalism, racism and superpower tensions as it portrayed Earth colonizers destroying an idyllic Martian civilization.
The “Chronicles” also prophesized the banning of books, especially works of fantasy. It was a theme Bradbury would take on fully in the 1953 release, “Fahrenheit 451.”
WWII veterans remember D-Day
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the World War II Memorial as a backdrop, veterans Josephine and Murray Bussard shared a kiss from their wheelchairs as they commemorated the 68th anniversary of D-Day, and celebrated almost as many years of marriage.
The octogenarians from Springfield, Mo., were among more than 200 veterans flown in Wednesday for a visit to the memorial.
Some of the veterans entered the memorial standing tall. Others, like the Bussards, were pushed in wheelchairs or leaned on canes, displaying a frailty that contrasted with the strength in the stories they told as they paid homage to the June 6, 1944, invasion of France by Allied troops.
Josephine Bussard, 89, proudly announced that Friday marks the 67th anniversary of their wedding.
Muslims sue over spying by NYPD
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Muslim civil rights group that has worked closely with the Obama administration to build better relationships with American Muslims is suing the New York Police Department over its surveillance programs.
Eight Muslims filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in New Jersey to force the NYPD to end its surveillance and other intelligence-gathering practices that have targeted Muslims since the 2001 terrorist attacks. The lawsuit alleged that the NYPD’s activities were unconstitutional because they focused on people’s religion, national origin and race.
It is the first lawsuit to directly challenge the NYPD’s surveillance programs that targeted entire Muslim neighborhoods, chronicling the daily life of where people ate, prayed and got their hair cut.
Enterprise arrives
at home in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — New Yorkers lined the West Side waterfront to welcome the space shuttle Enterprise as it sailed up the Hudson River on Wednesday to its new home aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
The prototype space shuttle rode a barge from Jersey City, N.J., to the Intrepid, where it was hoisted by crane onto the flight deck.
A flotilla of vessels including a police boat, a Fire Department boat and a yellow taxi boat accompanied the Enterprise as it sailed past the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site and other Manhattan landmarks en route to the Intrepid at midtown.
