Books

Books
Arts

'I'd Die For You' Gives A Glimpse Into F. Scott Fitzgerald's Writing Life

7:00am April 30, 2017

by Heller McAlpin

Fitzgerald wrote most of his best work in his 20s, and the stories in this new collection — all unpublished or uncollected — demonstrate how hard it was for him to deliver what readers wanted.

Books

Inside 'The Black Hand' Crime Wave A Century Ago

7:57am April 29, 2017

Stephan Talty's The Black Hand tells the story of the Black Hand crime wave that gripped New York City in the early 1900s and the one policeman who took it on. He talks with NPR's Scott Simon.

Books

Documentary Filmmaker On The Personal Essays In 'You Don't Look Your Age'

7:57am April 29, 2017

NPR's Scott Simon talks with award-winning documentary filmmaker Sheila Nevins about her new book, You Don't Look Your Age...And Other Fairy Tales.

The Electric Sublime by W. Maxwell Prince

Books
Arts

Art Is A Matter Of Life And Death In 'The Electric Sublime'

7:00am April 29, 2017

by Etelka Lehoczky

W. Maxwell Prince's bloody, silly and deeply likeable new graphic novel imagines a world where works of art are real spaces you can step into — with real problems that can cause hundreds of deaths.

Portrait of Barbare Jorjadze in the Georgian National Library's reading room named after her.

19th Century Princess And Cookbook Author Was Also Georgia's First Feminist

1:38pm April 28, 2017

by Giorgi Lomsadze

Princess Barbare Jorjadze is renowned for her cookbook. But she spent most of her life writing letters, poems and essays, to fight for a greater public role for Georgian women.

Books
Arts

Whose Side Was She On? 'American Heiress' Revisits Patty Hearst's Kidnapping

1:36pm April 28, 2017

Legal expert Jeffrey Toobin says Hearst, who was abducted in 1974 and declared allegiance to her captors, "responded rationally to the circumstances." Originally broadcast Aug. 3, 2016.

Queue Listen Now

Fortified dwelling and open air banquet, detail from a mosaic portraying a Nilotic landscape from El Alia, Tunisia. Roman Civilisation, 2nd century. Musée National Du Bardo (Archaeological Museum)

What Did Ancient Romans Eat? New Novel Serves Up Meals And Intrigue

10:10am April 28, 2017

by Kristen Hartke

In ancient Rome, food was a bargaining chip for position for slaves and nobles alike. At the center of Feast Of Sorrow is real-life nobleman Apicius, who inspired the oldest surviving cookbook.

Books
Arts

Paula Hawkins Prepares To Dive 'Into The Water'

9:24am April 28, 2017

by Petra Mayer

Author Paula Hawkins was down on her luck when her 2015 book The Girl on the Train became a smash hit. Now she's grappling with success and preparing to launch her followup, Into the Water.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

For 'New York Times' Obit Writers, 'Death Is Never Solicitous Of A Deadline'

1:52pm April 27, 2017

Bruce Weber and Margalit Fox have written obituaries for thousands of people, ranging from heads of state to the inventor of the Etch-a-Sketch. They are featured in the new documentary Obit.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'The Radium Girls' Is Haunted By Glowing Ghosts

11:55am April 27, 2017

by Genevieve Valentine

Kate Moore's account of the sufferings and struggles of the Radium Girls — factory workers who were poisoned by the glowing radium paint they worked with — reads like a true crime narrative.