Books

Onaje X. O. Woodbine's book, Black Gods of the Asphalt, has also been adapted into a play by the same name. He appears here on that play's set at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

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Arts

'Black Gods Of The Asphalt' Takes Basketball Beyond The Court

5:48pm June 05, 2016

When you see a bunch of guys playing street basketball you might not just see a game. In his new book Black Gods of the Asphalt author Onaje Woodbine shows how it's also a spiritual experience.

Muslims Are Just The Latest In History Of Scapegoats, Author Says

5:17pm June 05, 2016

In his book Scapegoats, human rights lawyer Arsalan Iftikhar says Muslims are the newest group in the U.S. to be ostracized. But there is a long history of groups before them facing discrimination.

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Arts

Cat Videos And All, The Internet May Be Humankind's Greatest Masterpiece

7:48am June 05, 2016

by NPR Staff

In her new book Magic and Loss, Virginia Heffernan makes the case for the Internet as art. Just look at Twitter, she says. "It's hard to think of a time when poetry was more powerful."

Emma Straub says she didn't want to write yet another book set in Brooklyn — and then she hit on Ditmas Park.

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Exploring The 'Quiet New York' With Emma Straub

7:48am June 05, 2016

by Lynn Neary

Straub's new book, Modern Lovers, is a tale of old friendships, secrets and family entanglements set in a part of Brooklyn writers often ignore: leafy, largely residential Ditmas Park.

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Slavery Scars A Transatlantic Family Tree In 'Homegoing'

8:00am June 04, 2016

by NPR Staff

Yaa Gyasi's debut novel follows the family lines of two separated half-sisters in 18th-century Ghana: One is married off to an Englishman, while the other is sent to America and sold into slavery.

Books

'Everybody Behaves Badly': The Backstory To 'The Sun Also Rises'

7:56am June 04, 2016

The true story of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises is told in Lesley Blume's book, Everybody Behaves Badly. She talks to NPR's Scott Simon about what made Hemingway's book such a breakthrough.

Green Eggs, Ham And Metaphysics: Teaching Hard Ideas With Children's Books

7:00am June 04, 2016

by Byrd Pinkerton

Stories that are great for learning to read can teach all kinds off things — from philosophy to financial literacy.

Books

'But What If We're Wrong:' A Look At How We Will Remember The Now, Later

7:16pm June 03, 2016

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with author and cultural critic, Chuck Klosterman. His new book But What If We're Wrong investigates which things we take as certainties might one day be proven wrong.

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Arts

This 'Hero Of France' Is A Truly Decent Man

4:02pm June 02, 2016

by Bethanne Patrick

The latest installment in Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series opens on a grey spring day in occupied Paris. It follows Mathieu, a small-time Resistance leader and fundamentally good man.

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Arts

Moving, Inventive 'Thing With Feathers' Is A Guide To Grief

1:00pm June 02, 2016

by Heller McAlpin

Max Porter's darkly funny, fiercely emotional new novel centers on a family — a husband and two sons — devastated by the loss of their wife and mother. And then the crow appears.