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'Interior Chinatown' Puts That Guy In The Background Front And Center

7:54am January 25, 2020

by Scott Simon

Charles Yu's new novel follows a TV actor who often gets stuck playing generic Asian men. Yu says he was inspired by shows that set episodes in Chinatown — but keep Asian actors in the background.

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'Night Theater' Is An Intriguing But Uneven Drama

7:00am January 25, 2020

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Vikram Paralkar's novel takes place over one eventful night at a clinic in a small Indian village, where three murdered people confront a doctor; if he can treat their wounds, they'll live again.

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Latinx Critics Speak Out Against 'American Dirt'; Jeanine Cummins Responds

11:45am January 24, 2020

by Rachel Martin

Latinx writers and critics are speaking out against Jeanine Cummins' new book American Dirt, calling its depiction of the migrant experience inauthentic and harmful. We asked Cummins to respond.

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'American Dirt' Author Jeanine Cummins Answers Vocal Critics

7:35am January 24, 2020

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to author Jeanine Cummins, who responds to criticism from Latino writers who say her new novel — American Dirt — is not an accurate portrayal of the migrant experience.

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In 'Sexual Citizens,' Students Open Up About Sex, Power And Assault On Campus

5:54pm January 23, 2020

by Ailsa Chang

Profs. Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan asked more than 150 undergrads about their sex lives — what they wanted out of sex, how troubling encounters unfolded, and how misunderstandings led to assault.

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'Stable Genius' Authors Describe Trump Presidency As A 'Den Of Destruction'

1:37pm January 22, 2020

by Dave Davies

Wash. Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker discuss presidential rages, erratic decision-making and other troubling tendencies of the Trump presidency. Their new book is A Very Stable Genius.

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A Language With Chutzpah: Yiddish And American Culture

1:24pm January 22, 2020

Oy vey! Mensches have been speaking Yiddish for over a thousand years.

Books

The All-Women Terrorist Plot To Bomb The Capitol

1:24pm January 22, 2020

We explore what the early 1980s terrorist group May 19th tells us about domestic terror today.

West Virginia and its counties. From The Third Rainbow Girl, by Emma Copley Eisenberg.

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In True Tale 'The Third Rainbow Girl,' Townspeople Accuse One Another Of Murder

2:22pm January 21, 2020

by Rachel Veroff

Emma Copley Eisenberg's book offers a deep-dive into rural Appalachia — and digs into questions of how misogyny and bias can take root inside a community — as she tracks a double murder.

Bryan Stevenson is the author of the memoir Just Mercy, which was recently adapted into a film starring Michael B. Jordan.

'Just Mercy' Attorney Asks U.S. To Reckon With Its Racist Past And Present

11:24am January 21, 2020

by Terry Gross

Bryan Stevenson built a museum and monument in Alabama dedicated to slavery and its legacy. "We need to create institutions in this country that motivate more people to say 'Never again,' " he says.

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