In the Memoir ‘Joyride,’ Susan Orlean Turns Her Investigative Eye Inward

The Story of Susan Orlean's Life

Susan Orlean reporting at Rajneeshpuram, a utopian community in Wasco County, Oregon, in 1982. By Nathan Smith Like any good reporter, Susan Orlean did extensive research for her assignment. She interviewed sources, studied published writings, and even visited an archive—only this time, it was her own: the Susan Orlean Papers, at Columbia University.While the sources may have been past colleagues, and the archival papers her own work, Orlean set…

In the memoir ‘Joyride,’ Susan Orlean turns her investigative eye inward

To this master of narrative nonfiction, something extraordinary is waiting under every rock, beckoning her to look closer.

Susan Orlean on ‘Joyride,’ Curiosity, and Why Creativity Matters

With Joyride, the author joins a contemporary chorus prescribing curiosity and art as antidotes in a fractured world.