Arts

In the first episode of Black Mirror Season 5, Anthony Mackie (left) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II play two estranged college friends who reunite later in life over a virtual reality video game.

Originality And Uncertainty Still Reign As 'Black Mirror' Enters Its 5th Season

3:21pm June 05, 2019

by David Bianculli

The anthology series returns to Netflix with three thought-provoking new installments that help solidify the show's hold on the fantasy anthology series crown.

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Amber Scorah writes about exiting the Jehovah's Witnesses in Leaving the Witness.

'Leaving The Witness': The End Of The World As She Knew It, Upon Losing Her Religion

2:02pm June 05, 2019

by Rachel Martin

Amber Scorah was a Jehovah's Witness and a missionary in China when she began to harbor doubts about the apocalypse. Disavowed by nearly everyone she knew, her memoir is a tale of starting over.

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The War For Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, by Jamil Zaki

'A War For Kindness' Favors The Practical Over Polemical

10:21am June 05, 2019

by Nicholas Cannariato

If you want a clarion call to action, Jamil Zaki's new book might not be it. But if you want a wide-ranging practical guide to making the world better, then you're in luck.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

Books
Arts

'On Earth' Is Gorgeous All The Way Through

10:00am June 05, 2019

by Heller McAlpin

Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a painful but extraordinary coming-of-age story, about a young Vietnamese American writer whose fractured family was torn by their experiences during the Vietnam War.

Books
Arts

In 'City Of Girls,' The Breezy, Bold Best Days Of Our Lives

7:00am June 05, 2019

by Jean Zimmerman

Elizabeth Gilbert's new novel is set in the New York theater community of the 1940s — an effervescent golden age for the women who congregate at the offbeat Lily Playhouse.

R. Kelly leaves the Leighton Courthouse in Chicago, Ill., on May 7, 2019, following a hearing in relation to the sex abuse allegations made against him.

Reporter Who Broke R. Kelly Story: Abuse Was In 'Full View Of The World'

6:00am June 05, 2019

by Terry Gross

Jim DeRogatis recounts his 19-year investigation into the singer in a new book, Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly. "It all happened as everybody watched and nobody did anything," he says.

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Alec Baldwin plays the controversial automaker in the new film Framing John DeLorean. "I think that John was a narcissistic and overreaching Type A guy," Baldwin says. "He was one of those guys that wanted to have his own thing."

Arts

As John DeLorean, Alec Baldwin Revisits The Past Of A Car Made For The Future

2:55pm June 04, 2019

by Steve Inskeep

The new film Framing John DeLorean explores the life and career of the controversial automaker. Baldwin believes DeLorean was a "tragic figure" and wonders about "what might have been."

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Cover of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

Books
Arts

An Immigrant Yearns For Connection In 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous'

2:45pm June 04, 2019

by Maureen Corrigan

Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong's words are mighty, teasing and overpowering in his autobiographical novel, written as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother.

Books
Arts

'Patsy' Discovers Her Dreams Don't Match Reality

10:02am June 04, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Nicole Dennis-Benn packs a lot of uncomfortable truths into this novel about a Jamaican woman who emigrates to New York looking for an old love and a new life, leaving her mother and daughter behind.

Singer R. Kelly, arriving in Cook County court for a hearing on sexual abuse charges in May.

In 'Soulless,' A Journalist Takes On R. Kelly And The Business That Made Him A Star

8:07am June 04, 2019

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

For nearly two decades, Jim DeRogatis has been searching for justice on behalf of the women who have accused the R&B singer of sexual and physical abuse. His new book is an account of those years.