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A Life Examined — And Examined And Examined In 'Ongoingness'

8:09pm March 03, 2015

by Heller McAlpin

Writer Sarah Manguso has been a compulsive diarist since childhood; her new memoir documents the ways motherhood has changed her writing. Critic Heller McAlpin says it's full of lovely observations.

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'The Devil's Detective' Is A Grim Tour Through A Noirish Hell

7:38pm March 03, 2015

by Jason Heller

Hell is actually a bureaucracy in Simon Kurt Unsworth's debut novel. Reviewer Jason Heller says the tale of a demonic murder investigation starts strong but gets mired in the details of infernal life.

Charles Darrow sold Monopoly to Parker Bros. in the 1930s.

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Ever Cheat At Monopoly? So Did Its Creator: He Stole The Idea From A Woman

5:00pm March 03, 2015

by NPR Staff

The game Charles Darrow sold in the 1930s bore a striking resemblance to a game Lizzie Magie patented in 1904. In The Monopolists, Mary Pilon tells Monopoly's origin story.

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Kevin Carey's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Prepare For 'The End Of College': Here's What Free Higher Ed Looks Like

4:58pm March 03, 2015

In his new book, Kevin Carey envisions a future in which online education programs solve two of colleges' biggest problems: costs and admissions.

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This Weekend, Experience The Enduring Power Of 'The Millstone'

3:07pm March 03, 2015

by NPR Staff

Margaret Drabble's The Millstone, set in the 1960s, tells the story of a young, unmarried woman who finds herself pregnant. Author Tessa Hadley says this 50-year-old novel is a weekend must-read.

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'Welcome To Braggsville' Isn't Quite 'Invisible Man,' But It's Close

2:19pm March 03, 2015

by Maureen Corrigan

T. Geronimo Johnson's latest follows four Berkeley students who take an American history class that leads to disaster. It's an ambitious book about race that wants to say something big about America.

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'Beholder' Has An Eye For The Absurd, And A Smirk Beneath Its Beard

4:18pm March 02, 2015

by Colin Dwyer

Francis Falbo, sad sack hero of Know Your Beholder, hasn't shaved in weeks. His wife's left him, his mom's died, his band's fallen apart. Good thing his author, Adam Rapp, has kept his sense of humor.

Viewers have criticized the lack of characters of color in Marvel's Agent Carter -- K. Tempest Bradford says it's just one of a long line of properties that overlook the presence of African-Americans outside of slavery, Reconstruction and the civil rights

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Uncovering Hidden Black History, On Screen And On The Page

2:02pm March 02, 2015

On TV and in the movies, it can sometimes seem like black people only existed during slavery or the civil rights era. K. Tempest Bradford recommends some books that bring hidden history to light.

A 'Show Boat' With An Asian-American Cast Hits The Rocks

1:45pm March 02, 2015

by Kat Chow

Racial tensions between blacks and whites are at the heart of the "Ol' Man River" musical. Asian-American actors say it doesn't make sense to get onboard.

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Chris Offutt Reveals A Family Secret In 'My Father, The Pornographer'

1:20pm March 02, 2015

Offutt's late father went from running a small insurance agency to writing more than 400 books, mostly pornography. The writer tells Fresh Air his dad believed he would be "extremely famous" for it.

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