The Books That Explain California

Here are some of the other new selections and what readers had to say about them, lightly edited for clarity: “Where I Was From” by Joan Didion (2003) “Born and raised in Berkeley, I had a disdain for the Central Valley and Sacramento — hot and flat, they seemed to me — until I read…

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What $50 Million Can Buy: Inside the Sleek New White House Situation Room

The White House Situation Room, the ultrasecure facility known to West Wing insiders simply as “the whizzer,” has undergone a $50 million renovation, with sophisticated communications equipment and technology to prevent American adversaries from listening in. To walk into the heart of the refurbished Situation Room, which got its nickname from the acronym WHSR, feels…

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