Books

Muhammad Ali Biography Reveals A Flawed Rebel Who Loved Attention

1:40pm September 21, 2018

by Terry Gross

"I don't think we do Ali any good by treating him as a saint," says biographer Jonathan Eig. "He was a human being, and he was deeply flawed." Originally broadcast Oct. 4, 2017.

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Books

New Biography More Fully Defines Playwright Lorraine Hansberry

6:30am September 21, 2018

by Karen Grigsby Bates

Historian Imani Perry looks beyond Hansberry's artistic genius to her involvement in several movements — civil rights, LGBTQ rights, anti-colonialism — ahead of the popular curve.

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Enric Marco stands next to a Spanish Republican flag at Mauthausen camp in Austria in May 2003. Marco, who was chairman of an association of Spanish Republicans deported from France to Nazi concentration camps during World War II, admitted in May 2005 tha

Books

Javier Cercas Uncovers The Truth Behind Spain's 'Impostor'

12:01am September 21, 2018

by Ari Shapiro

In his new book, The Impostor, Javier Cercas unravels the lies that created the life of Enric Marco — a man who for years portrayed himself as a Holocaust survivor and Spanish Civil War hero.

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The books on the shortlist for the 2018 Man Booker Prize, from top to bottom: The Long Take, by Robin Robertson; Milkman, by Anna Burns; Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan; Everything Under, by Daisy Johnson; The Mars Room, by Rachel Kushner; and The Overst

Books
Arts

From 'Everything Under' To 'Overstory': The 2018 Man Booker Prize Shortlist

1:40pm September 20, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

Just half a dozen authors remain in contention for the prestigious fiction award: Anna Burns, Esi Edugyan, Daisy Johnson, Rachel Kushner, Richard Powers and Robin Robertson.

Investigative Journalist Aims To Expose Ills Of Privately Run Prisons

11:45am September 19, 2018

by Michael Schaub

American Prison is the remarkable story of a journalist who spent four months working as a corrections officer — and a horrifying exposé of how prisoners are treated by a profiting corporation.

detail from the cover of Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini Says A Succinct 'Sea Prayer' For A Refugee's Journey

7:19am September 19, 2018

by Rachel Martin

The novelist known for his epic works about Afghanistan turns his attention to the human impact of the Syrian refugee crisis in a slim, poetic, illustrated book.

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When she was 13, Linda Kay Klein joined an evangelical church that valued sexual purity. She recounts her experiences in the memoir Pure.

Memoirist: Evangelical Purity Movement Sees Women's Bodies As A 'Threat'

6:52pm September 18, 2018

by Terry Gross

In Pure, Linda Kay Klein reflects on the "deep, long-lasting shame" caused by churches that claim women and girls are responsible for the sexual desires of men.

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Dessa went looking for the source of love in her brain, and then turned to the frontiers of neuroscience to try and heal a broken heart.

This Rapper Tried To Use Neuroscience To Get Over Her Ex

11:01am September 18, 2018

Dessa is a singer and writer from Minneapolis who spent years trying to fall out of love and get over her ex. Nothing seemed to help — until she visited a research lab for a brain scan.

'These Truths' Looks At America Through The Promises Of Its Beginning

9:54am September 18, 2018

by Michael Schaub

By engaging with our country's past — and present — in an intellectually honest way, Jill Lepore has created a book that truly does encapsulate the American story in all its pain and triumph.

Books
Arts

In The Powerful 'Deviation,' Luce D'Eramo Rejects Her Past And Faces An Uncertain Future

7:00am September 18, 2018

by Martha Anne Toll

First published in 1979 and now released in English for the first time, D'Eramo's autobiographical novel details her harrowing experiences in German labor camps during World War II.