Books

The fight to integrate the U.S. military began with the Revolutionary War, says author Rawn James, Jr.

Books
Arts

'Double V': The Fight For Civil Rights In The U.S. Military

1:19pm January 21, 2013

In his new book, The Double V, Rawn James Jr. argues that to understand race in America one must understand the history of African-Americans in the military. While the turning point came between the world wars, the struggle began with the American Revolution.

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Connecting With Nature To Reclaim Our Natural 'Birthright'

5:29pm January 20, 2013

by NPR Staff

Modern society has become adversarial in its relationship to nature, Yale scholar Stephen Kellert argues, having greatly undervalued the natural world beyond its narrow utilty. In his new book Birthright: People and Nature in the Modern World, he tells stories of the environment's effect on us, and ours on it.

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Books
Arts

George Saunders On Absurdism And Ventriloquism In 'Tenth Of December'

5:29pm January 20, 2013

by NPR Staff

George Saunders has long been praised in literary circles for his short stories that deftly combine the absurd with the mundane. But now the author has caught mainstream attention with his newest collection, Tenth of December.

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New education standards place more emphasis on nonfiction reading and writing over fiction works. Some say this could lead students away from a passionate engagement with literature.

New Reading Standards Aim To Prep Kids For College — But At What Cost?

9:17pm January 19, 2013

by NPR Staff

Almost the entire country has signed onto the Common Core Standards Initiative. The standards incorporate more nonfiction texts across all subjects to improve reading scores. But some fear the push for nonfiction reading could lead students away from passionate engagement with literature.

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For Justice Sotomayor, Books Unlocked Imagination

7:13am January 19, 2013

by Nina Totenberg

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's autobiography, My Beloved World, debuted this week, and NPR's Nina Totenberg sat down with her to talk about her youth and schooling and career. Sotomayor discusses the role that books played in her life, from Nancy Drew to Shakespeare.

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In The Org, Tim Sullivan and Ray Fisman share case studies of organizations including McDonald's and Procter and Gamble.

The 'Underlying Logic' Behind The Madness Of The Office

3:58pm January 18, 2013

by NPR Staff

Those of us who work in an office know that there is at least some part of the organization that is utterly frustrating. In The Org, authors Tim Sullivan and Ray Fisman argue that the back-to-back meetings and unending bureaucracy serve an important purpose.

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John Mackey is co-CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market and co-founder of the nonprofit Conscious Capitalism, Inc.

Whole Foods Founder John Mackey On Fascism And 'Conscious Capitalism'

3:51pm January 17, 2013

by April Fulton

The outspoken Whole Foods founder tells us why he hates "Obamacare" and why we have trouble cutting the sugar, fat and salt out of our diets. But now he's told CBS he used a poor choice of words when referring to the health law as fascism.

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Madwoman in the Attic book cover detail.

Books
Arts

How A 'Madwoman' Upended A Literary Boys Club

1:05pm January 17, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

The National Book Critics Circle has announced that two feminist literary scholars, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, will receive a lifetime achievement award. Critic Maureen Corrigan says their groundbreaking 1979 book, The Madwoman in the Attic, changed the way we read.

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Poet Richard Blanco is the author of City of a Hundred Fires, Directions to the Beach of the Dead and Looking for the Gulf Motel.

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Arts

Richard Blanco Will Be First Latino Inaugural Poet

3:44pm January 16, 2013

by NPR Staff

Blanco, a first-generation Cuban-American, says he identifies with the theme of the inauguration: Our People, Our Future. He is the fifth poet to take part in a U.S. presidential inauguration, and also the youngest. He says being selected was a "great honor."

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George Saunders' previous books include In Persuasion Nation and The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip. He won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006.

Books
Arts

George Saunders Lives Up To The Hype

1:15pm January 15, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

At the beginning of January, the cover story of The New York Times Magazine declared: "George Saunders Has Written The Best Book You'll Read This Year." The stories in the author's latest collection, The Tenth of December, prove that The Times may well be right.

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