Books

Books
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In 'Sliver Of Sky,' Barry Lopez Confronts Childhood Sexual Abuse

9:03pm January 10, 2013

The nature writer has an essay in January's Harper's Magazine that details the four years of his childhood during which he says he was routinely raped and molested by a family friend.

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'A Life In Friendships' Is A Life Well-Lived

6:31pm January 09, 2013

by Meg Wolitzer

Susanna Sonnenberg's life has been full of interesting women, and in a new memoir she tells their stories. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer says that She Matters: A Life in Friendships is a beautifully written book about the bonds, and the boundary issues, between women.

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The Fall of the House of Dixie is by Civil War historian Bruce Levine.

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'The Fall Of The House Of Dixie' Built A New U.S.

1:50pm January 08, 2013

In a new book, Civil War historian Bruce Levine says that from the destruction of the South emerged an entirely new country, making the Civil War equivalent to a second American Revolution. Integral to the Union's victory, he says, were the nearly 200,000 black soldiers who enlisted.

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'Full Planet, Empty Plates'

12:23pm January 07, 2013

In Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity, Lester Brown says the world's food supply is tightening, and the reasons are many. People in developing countries are eating more meat, a grain-intensive food; farmers are overpumping, causing water tables to fall; and crop yields have plateaued, despite technological advances.

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Mapping A History Of The World, And Our Place In It

7:56am January 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

On the Map author Simon Garfield speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the history of maps, how they can be used as political tools, and how GPS and modern mapping applications are changing the way we see ourselves and our place in the world.

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Re-Creating The 'Lost Carving' Of An English Genius

7:06pm January 06, 2013

by NPR Staff

David Esterly's life was changed in the 1970s when he came across wood carvings done by Grinling Gibbons more than 300 years earlier. Esterly became a wood carver, and even re-created one of Gibbons' pieces that was destroyed in a fire.

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'Death Of Bees' Captures A Grim, Gory Coming-Of-Age

9:59am January 05, 2013

by NPR Staff

"Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard." So begins Lisa O'Donnell's novel about two sisters who find their parents dead and, instead of reporting it, decide to keep it a secret until they can make it on their own.

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'A Grain Of Truth' About Memory And Modern Poland

12:26pm January 04, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

A new mystery by novelist Zygmunt Miloszewski explores Poland's relationship to its anti-Semitic past. Teodor Szacki, the likably washed-up hero, must sprint all over town interrogating suspects, including so-called Polish "patriots" — extremists who bombard him with their anti-Semitic rants.

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Books

From Puberty To Pop Culture: What It Means 'To Be A Woman'

12:13pm January 04, 2013

In How To Be A Woman, British columnist and critic Caitlin Moran describes her journey — thus far — through womanhood. She shares stories of the awkwardness of puberty, and the perils of fashion, career, marriage and childbirth. Along the way, she explores what it means to be a feminist today.

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The singer Skin of Skunk Anansie performs at Brixton Academy in London last month. She wrote the foreword to Laina Dawes' What Are You Doing Here?: A Black Woman's Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal.

The 'Life And Liberation' Of A Black Female Metal Fan

10:15am January 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

Writer Laina Dawes has loved heavy metal ever since she got her first Kiss album at age 8. But the metal community hasn't always loved her back, as she explains in her book What Are You Doing Here?

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