Books

Books

How One Anthropologist Reshaped How Social Scientists Think About Race

6:57pm August 03, 2019

In the 1900's, Franz Boas revolutionized anthropology by breaking out of racist conventional wisdom. NPR's Michel Martin talks with Charles King about his book about Boas, "Gods of the Upper Air".

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Books

The Try Guys Try Interviewing Laura Hillenbrand

7:58am August 03, 2019

The Try Guys are four YouTube stars who'll try almost anything, including Scott Simon's job. Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld and Eugene Lee Yang interview author Laura Hillenbrand.

cover to Marilou Is Everywhere by Sarah Elaine Smith

Books
Arts

Growing Up In Appalachia Is 'The Great Riddle Of My Life,' Says 'Marilou' Author

7:58am August 03, 2019

by Scott Simon

A 14-year-old loner named Cindy finds her own maternal figure in Sarah Elaine Smith's first novel, set in the part of rural Pennsylvania where the author grew up.

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Arts

Disaster Is On The Horizon In Blood-Soaked 'Dark Age'

7:00am August 03, 2019

by Jason Sheehan

The latest installment in Pierce Brown's epic Roman-in-space saga Red Rising finds our hero overthrown and banished from the Republic he founded, and teetering dangerously close to villainy.

Strange Harvests: The Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects by Edward Posnett

'Strange Harvests' Turns Nature's Fairy Tales Inside Out

11:50am August 02, 2019

by Carson Vaughan

Edward Posnett's book is more than an impressive add to the modern travelogue: it refuses to accept the landscape at face value as it paints remote terrain in visceral and breathtaking prose.

Ghost World's Enid and Rebecca have no time for earnestness or sincerity — or laughs.

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Arts

With These Comics, Learn How to Laugh Like It's 1999 (Hint: Don't)

10:00am August 02, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

As part of our summerlong tribute to funny books, we take a look back at the ennui-drenched anti-humor of some of the 1990s, when absurdity and surrealism were the rule — laughs not so much.

Protesters march to the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse on Aug. 10, 2015, in St. Louis.

'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' Examines What Led To Ferguson And Baltimore Protests

4:14pm August 01, 2019

by Nicholas Cannariato

Unlike many academic tomes, Jennifer Cobbina's book doesn't presume prior knowledge; it establishes historical and cultural context for the distrust many African Americans feel toward law enforcement.

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Arts

Maddening Men Are Strangely Sympathetic In 'This Is Not America'

7:35am August 01, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Jordi Puntí's new short story collection is full of men living on the edge — almost always because they've put themselves there. They're maddening characters, and Puntí regards them with sympathy.

Books
Arts

Our Language Is Evolving, 'Because Internet'

7:52pm July 31, 2019

by Audie Cornish

Whether you're extremely online or still confused by how a simple period can be interpreted as passive-aggressive, linguist Gretchen McCulloch has a guide to how our on-screen speech is morphing.

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Books

Idiosyncratic, Dimension-Hopping 'Skip' Creates Its Own Niche

10:00am July 31, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

Molly Mendoza's loopy new graphic novel isn't quite a young adult book, or a book for grownups, either. But it is a trippy visual experience, and Mendoza's art is gorgeous even when the story is thin.