Barbara Falconer NewhallPrize-winning journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall has been a staff writer and editor at "Good Housekeeping" magazine and several San Francisco Bay Area newspapers, including the "San Francisco Chronicle," the "Oakland Tribune," and the "Contra Costa imes.""Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith" comes out of her time on the religion beat at the "Contra Costa Times."Newhall began her career in journalism in the steno pool at "Look" magazine in Manhattan. Her first writing job was at "Good Housekeeping," where women were more likely to be hired on as writers than at "Look." Next, Newhall moved across country to San Francisco, where she joined the women's movement, protested the Vietnam war, and spoke up for civil rights. She spent a few precarious years as a freelance writer before going to work at "Zodiac," an alternative news service. She later married her boss and fellow journalist, Jon Newhall. From "Zodiac," Newhall went on to a copy-editing job at the "San Francisco Chronicle," followed by a stint as a columnist at the "Oakland Tribune," where she limned the hectic life of a woman with a job, a husband, two young children, a conscience, and a much-needed sense of humor.Next, at the "Contra Costa Times," Newhall encountered seekers and believers of every stripe with passionate stories to tell - Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists. Inspired by those multi-phonic voices, Newhall began work on her first book "Wrestling with God." She interviewed scores of diverse Americans, recording their words and shaping their stories into carefully edited first-person narratives. She wove those stories together using her own - rocky - spiritual journey as the overarching narrative.Newhall grew up in Michigan, graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in English, and spent a year at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Widowed, her children now grown, Newhall lives in a house on a hill with a view of a lush patch of poison oak and a glistening scrap of the San Francisco Bay. She likes hiking, dancing, and capturing her world with words and her trusty point-and-shoot camera. Read More Read Less