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Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder review gritty memoir dispels Little House myths

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Autobiography and memoirReviewFull of theft, alcoholism and violence, the novelist’s unvarnished account of her childhood is a darker, more vicious affairLaura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods was first published in 1932, when its author was 65; it offers a sanitised tale of her childhood near Pepin, Wisconsin, just after the end of the US civil war. Within a few years of her birth, the Ingalls family piled their few possessions into a covered wagon and started the trip into “Indian Territory”, to join the settlers pushing west in order to make manifest the destiny that America was determined to invent. Read More...

Which Boeing Max planes fly in Australia and should I be worried about flying on one?

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Plastic on the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 forced to make an emergency landing when a panel plugging an unused exit door blew out. Photograph: Getty ImagesPlastic on the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 forced to make an emergency landing when a panel plugging an unused exit door blew out. Photograph: Getty ImagesAustralia newsExplainerThe regulator has ruled Max 8s which operate in Australia are safe, while no local airline flies the Max 9 that was involved in the US emergency Read More...

Why do they have to be brilliant? The problem of autism in the movies

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FilmOver 30 years since Dustin Hoffman twitched his way to an Oscar in Rain Man, our experts give their verdict on a season of portrayals of the neurodiverse, from Sia’s Music to What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? A quick experiment. Close your eyes, and think of autism in the movies. I bet you’ve got an image in your head of Dustin Hoffman being driven by Tom Cruise in a Buick Roadmaster Convertible, repeatedly saying: “I’m an excellent driver. Read More...