Books

Books
Arts

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Points To Reconstruction As The Genesis Of White Supremacy

2:19pm April 03, 2019

by Terry Gross

Gates says white supremacy was born in the years after the Civil War, as white Southerners looked for ways to roll back the newly acquired rights of African-Americans. His new book is Stony the Road.

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Ashton Sanders plays main character Bigger Thomas in the new film adaptation of Native Son, the Richard Wright novel.

Books
Arts

'Native Son' Is Reborn, In 'Still Kind Of The Same America'

5:05am April 03, 2019

by Mandalit del Barco

In his feature film debut, Rashid Johnson directs Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks' adaptation of the classic Richard Wright novel. The movie is set to premiere on HBO this weekend.

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Valerie Jarrett, a former Obama administration staffer, has a new book titled, Finding My Voice.

Obama Adviser Valerie Jarrett Defends Biden, Talks 2020 In Conversation About Memoir

7:48pm April 02, 2019

by Audie Cornish

The longtime Obama adviser told NPR's Audie Cornish that former Vice President Joe Biden "got it right" when he said "it's important that men listen" in a wide-ranging interview about her new book.

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Artist Kadir Nelson illustrates Kwame Alexander's poem "The Undefeated" in a new picture book.

Books
Arts

This Is For 'The Undefeated': A New Picture Book Celebrates Black Brilliance

7:36pm April 02, 2019

by Ari Shapiro

Kadir Nelson was inspired by Kwame Alexander's poem. It "spoke to excellence, and perseverance, and triumph amidst adversity," Nelson says. "It was an ode to the sung and unsung heroes in history."

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Books

Obama Friend And Adviser Valerie Jarrett On Her Life Journey

6:16pm April 02, 2019

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Obama administration adviser Valerie Jarrett about her early life and her work in the White House.

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Former first lady Barbara Bush is interviewed for 'The Presidents' Gatekeepers' project about the White House Chiefs of Staff at the Bush Library, Oct. 24, 2011 in College Station, Texas.

'The Matriarch' Presents Barbara Bush As Indispensable To 2 Bush Presidencies

8:46am April 02, 2019

by Jessica Taylor

Beyond the juicy bits, journalist Susan Page paints a larger portrait of one of the more underappreciated, least understood figures of the last century — one with both insecurities and influence.

Books

U.S. Diplomat Recounts Time In Russia In 'The Back Channel'

8:13am April 02, 2019

Steve Inskeep talks to former ambassador William Burns about diplomacy in the Trump era. Burns is the author of: The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal.

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Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss, by Rajeev Balasubramanyam

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Arts

'Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss' Is Smart, Comforting Sentiment

7:00am April 02, 2019

by Heller McAlpin

Rajeev Balasubramanyam's fourth novel follows a cantankerous yet sympathetic economics professor whose life is upended after he fails yet again to win a Nobel Prize (among other, lesser catastrophes).

Books

'The Turner Diaries' Influence On White Nationalists

5:54am April 02, 2019

The Turner Diaries is a fictional dystopic novel that's served as a foundational piece of white nationalist propaganda. It was written in the 1970s but its hold on the movement can be traced to today.

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'Chief' Explores The Motivations And Impact Of SCOTUS Justice John Roberts

1:26pm April 01, 2019

by Dave Davies

CNN legal affairs correspondent Joan Biskupic discusses the roots of Roberts' conservatism and his work for the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. Her new book is The Chief.

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