Books

Books
Arts

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.

Books
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.

Decades In The Senate, McConnell Learns To Play 'The Long Game'

7:58am June 02, 2016

Mitch McConnell has been a U.S. senator since 1984. The Long Game is the behind-the-scenes memoir of a man famous for his discretion. Steve Inskeep talks to McConnell about the Senate and his book.

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Books

After 'Fargo' Noah Hawley Writes 'Before The Fall'

5:54am June 02, 2016

David Greene talks with Noah Hawley, the creator of TV's Fargo, about his novel Before the Fall. It's rooted in what Hawley views as a very real human desire to create narratives to explain tragedies.

Books
Arts

'Possession' Charts The Tangled Paths Of Art And Antiquities

8:20pm June 01, 2016

by Genevieve Valentine

Art crime expert Erin Thompson digs into the dirt around antiquities in her new book — what motivates collectors, what justifications they give and the politics around their acquisitions.

Books
Arts

Neil Gaiman's Nonfiction, Seen From The 'Cheap Seats'

8:04pm May 31, 2016

by Jason Heller

Neil Gaiman is best-known for his fictional creations, but he is also a prolific producer of essays, album liner notes, speeches and introductions — now collected in The View From the Cheap Seats.