Books

Books

Fans Worldwide Prepare To Honor Bicentennial Of Walt Whitman's Birth

6:29am May 30, 2019

by Tom Vitale

American poet Walt Whtman was born 200 years ago on May 31, 1819. His Leaves Of Grass has been called the most important book of American poetry ever. Yet in 1855, he could barely give it away.

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Books

Dagher Explains Brutal Syrian Regimes In 'Assad Or We Burn The Country'

6:05am May 30, 2019

NPR's Noel King talks to journalist Sam Dagher about his book Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria.

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Arts

A 'Biloxi' Misanthrope 'Can't Help Himself' — But His Pet Dog Can

5:59pm May 29, 2019

by Ari Shapiro

Louis McDonald Jr. is 63, recently retired and "really unlikable," says novelist Mary Miller. But on a whim he takes home a dog named Layla, and the two of them "become a little team."

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Arts

'Fresh Air' Remembers Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Tony Horwitz

5:00pm May 29, 2019

Horwitz, who died Monday, spoke to Fresh Air in '98 about Confederates in the Attic, his book about the legacy of the Civil War. Plus, Maureen Corrigan reviews his latest book, Spying on the South.

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Look It Up: The Dramatic History Of The Dictionary

3:29pm May 29, 2019

The story of how a new(ish) language shaped the new nation.

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Arts

'Sara Berman's Closet' Traces 1 Woman's Life, From Shtetl To Greenwich Village

1:41pm May 29, 2019

by Terry Gross

Berman was 60 when she moved to New York with just one suitcase to start a new life. Berman's daughter, Maira Kalman, and grandson, Alex Kalman, tell her story in a new book and museum show.

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Arts

Breaking Down The Doors To The Past In 'The Dinner Guest'

10:00am May 29, 2019

by Lily Meyer

In her new autofictional novel, Spanish writer Gabriela Ybarra turns past tragedy — the murder of her grandfather by Basque separatists — into a seamless blend of art, politics and private life.

Siege: Trump Under Fire, by Michael Wolff

Michael Wolff's New Trump Tell-All 'Siege,' Stars Steve Bannon And A Cast Of No-Names

8:11am May 29, 2019

by Ron Elving

The Fire and Fury author offers surprising stories about the president. But there may never have been a more polarizing president, nor an author less likely to be read as a neutral recorder of facts.

Books

This Is The 92nd Year For The Scripps National Spelling Bee

7:29am May 29, 2019

NPR's Noel King talks to Shalini Shankar, author of Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal About Generation Z's New Path to Success, about the competitors at this year's spelling bee.

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Arts

The Fizz Has Flattened Some In 'The Rosie Result'

7:00am May 29, 2019

by Heller McAlpin

The final volume in Graeme Simsion's Rosie trilogy — about an adorably dorky, autistic scientist and his wife and family — will enlighten readers about life on the spectrum, but may not charm them.