Arts

Love them or hate them, modernist buildings of the 1960s and '70s are beginning to need renovation, and the U.S. General Services Administration is trying something unusual — putting a 32-story office tower under glass. The double wall exterior will not only save energy but protect the inhabitants from a bomb blast. NPR explores whether the repairs are worth the $120 million and if the outer wall will ruin the original architecture design.

The latest installment in Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series opens on a grey spring day in occupied Paris. It follows Mathieu, a small-time Resistance leader and fundamentally good man.

Max Porter's darkly funny, fiercely emotional new novel centers on a family — a husband and two sons — devastated by the loss of their wife and mother. And then the crow appears.

Art crime expert Erin Thompson digs into the dirt around antiquities in her new book — what motivates collectors, what justifications they give and the politics around their acquisitions.

Cider made from perry pears is delicious. It rivals apple cider, but is sweeter. Long revered in England and Normandy, France (Napoleon was a fan), perry is now getting its due in the U.S.

What could have been a true variety show collapsed into a halfhearted version of late-night comedy where the bright spots only accentuated the weak ones.

Neil Gaiman is best-known for his fictional creations, but he is also a prolific producer of essays, album liner notes, speeches and introductions — now collected in The View From the Cheap Seats.

On our inaugural episode, we're digging into how we talk about whiteness — or, really, how we don't talk about it — and hear from some folks who say it's really important that we figure out how.