Books

Elliot Ackerman is also the author of the novels Dark at the Crossing and Waiting for Eden. He's pictured above during a TV taping in Milan in March 2016.

Books
Arts

'I Write To Understand What I Think': A Veteran Turns To Words After War

5:08pm June 07, 2019

by Mary Louise Kelly

Elliot Ackerman served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He sees the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East as "all one war" and explains why that's particularly tough on his generation of veterans.

The sign for a Barnes & Noble bookstore hangs above the entrance to one of its locations in Brooklyn earlier this year. The book retailer and Elliott Management Corp. announced Friday that they have agreed to a sale price of about $683 million.

Books
Arts

Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683 Million

3:04pm June 07, 2019

by Colin Dwyer

That price tag includes all of the book megachain's debt. Elliott's acquisition of the largest retail bookseller in the U.S. comes less than a year after it bought Waterstones, the largest in the U.K.

Eileen Gray: A House Under The Sun, by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes and Zosia Dzierzawska

Books
Arts

'Eileen Gray' Examines The Relationship Between Genius And Gender

11:25am June 07, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

Even in our current climate, it's sobering to consider how the profession of architecture treated modernist pioneer Eileen Gray. This graphic history is a thought-provoking, if incomplete, reflection.

Books
Arts

The End Of The World Ought To Be The Start Of The Story In 'Oval'

10:00am June 07, 2019

by Jason Sheehan

Elvia Wilk's new novel follows a group of aimless young people in Berlin, working, going out, coming home — until something happens that brings about a cataclysm. But is the aimlessness intentional?

Books

David Barrie Explores The Science Behind How Animals Find Their Way In 'Supernavigators'

6:05pm June 06, 2019

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with David Barrie about his new book, Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way.

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Pablo Picasso and Francoise Gillot in 1951.

'Life With Picasso' Stands As An Invaluable Work Of Art History

11:44am June 06, 2019

by Lily Meyer

Newly reissued, the intellectual heft of Françoise Gilot's now classic memoir is in its art criticism, even as its emotional arc lies in Picasso and Gilot's unequal romance.

'The Plaza' Is A Nostalgic Look At The History Of New York's Most Famous Hotel

6:01am June 06, 2019

by Genevieve Valentine

Julie Satow's book reads like the biography of a distant relative as much as the history of a landmark building; the author argues that no other building so directly reflects the city itself.

Tayari Jones speaks onstage at the Women In The World Summit earlier this year in in New York City. On Wednesday, Jones' novel An American Marriage won the prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction.

Books
Arts

Tayari Jones' 'Exquisitely Intimate' Novel Wins Women's Prize For Fiction

6:02pm June 05, 2019

by Colin Dwyer

An American Marriage won the nearly $40,000 award, once known as the Orange Prize, at a ceremony Tuesday in London. "We all loved this brilliant book," the judges said.

Amber Scorah writes about exiting the Jehovah's Witnesses in Leaving the Witness.

'Leaving The Witness': The End Of The World As She Knew It, Upon Losing Her Religion

2:02pm June 05, 2019

by Rachel Martin

Amber Scorah was a Jehovah's Witness and a missionary in China when she began to harbor doubts about the apocalypse. Disavowed by nearly everyone she knew, her memoir is a tale of starting over.

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The War For Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, by Jamil Zaki

'A War For Kindness' Favors The Practical Over Polemical

10:21am June 05, 2019

by Nicholas Cannariato

If you want a clarion call to action, Jamil Zaki's new book might not be it. But if you want a wide-ranging practical guide to making the world better, then you're in luck.