Books

Mike Tyson and Cus D'Amato in training. "I'm not a creator," D'Amato once said. "What I do is discover and uncover."

Mike Tyson's New Book Is A Memorial To The Man Who Made Him A Champion

7:49am May 30, 2017

by David Greene

Tyson says trainer Cus D'Amato is the reason he had such a legendary career. "We had a lot of dreams, hopes. ... Being champ of the world, that's all that we ever thought about."

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'Descent' Is A Witty Manifesto On Modern Manhood

7:00am May 30, 2017

by Jason Heller

English author and artist Grayson Perry realized at age 12 that he wanted to wear women's clothes. That fascination is part of his new book, a funny, engaging look at what it means to be a man today.

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Arts

'Destined For War' Explores How To Avoid Unnecessary Future Conflicts

7:13pm May 29, 2017

NPR's Robert Siegel interviews Graham Allison, author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?, about honoring the dead by avoiding unnecessary wars.

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'The Jersey Brothers' Highlights The Enduring Legacy Of World War II

5:07pm May 29, 2017

by Glen Weldon

Sally Mott Freeman's book, The Jersey Brothers, recounts the story of three men swept up by Word War II. The youngest brother gets captured in the Philippines, and the two others struggle to bring him home. NPR explores why stories of World War II remain so compelling to us today.

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'The Body And The Blood' Follows Exodus Of Christians In The Middle East

5:07pm May 29, 2017

NPR's Robert Siegel interviews Charles Sennott, author of The Body and the Blood: The Middle East's Vanishing Christians and the Possibility for Peace, and the executive director of The GroundTruth Project. Sennott talks about the history of Christian communities in the Middle East, and how so many of them are leaving the region.

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Twenty-four-year-old novelist Édouard Louis grew up in Hallencourt, France.

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Arts

'The End Of Eddy' Tells Of Growing Up Poor And Gay In Working-Class France

1:27pm May 29, 2017

by John Powers

Édouard Louis' autobiographical novel is the story of a young man coming of age in a downtrodden French village. Critic John Powers calls it a "bulletin from the enraged heart of Le Pen country."

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Gwendolyn Brooks poses with her first book of poems, A Street in Bronzeville.

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Arts

Remembering The Great Poet Gwendolyn Brooks At 100

10:04am May 29, 2017

by Karen Grigsby Bates

A new biography celebrates the life and legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who wrote about ordinary black life using extraordinary language.

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Shatner's 'Spirit Of The Horse' Is An Ode To Four-Legged Friends

7:00pm May 28, 2017

by Jaym Gates

Yes, he was the captain of the Enterprise, but William Shatner is also a dedicated horseman and founder of the Hollywood Charity Horse Show. His love of horses is on display in his charming new book.

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Arts

Hip, Hippo Hooray For 'River Of Teeth'

10:00am May 28, 2017

by Amal El-Mohtar

Sarah Gailey's alternate-history romp takes place in a United States that went ahead with a wild plan to farm hippos for meat. It's a delightful read that suffers only from being too short.

Books

'The Reminders' Is A Story About Memory

8:09am May 28, 2017

What does it mean to be remembered? It's the question at the heart of The Reminders, the debut novel from actor, musician, and now author Val Emmich. He joins NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro.