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detail from cover of Code Name: Johnny Walker

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With Fearlessness And A 'Code Name,' Iraqi Helped Navy SEALs

6:33pm February 09, 2014

by NPR Staff

Interpreter "Johnny Walker" accompanied the U.S. military on countless missions in his war-torn home country of Iraq. His memoir, Code Name: Johnny Walker, details his experiences with the SEALs and his family's long path to U.S. citizenship.

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Lessons On Addiction And Escaping The 'Death Grip From Satan'

6:34pm February 08, 2014

In order to understand and to mourn the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Slate senior editor Emily Bazelon recommends reading The Night of the Gun by David Carr.

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detail from cover of The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles

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Triumph Of The Bookworms: Two Novels To Cure Your Winter Blues

5:19pm February 05, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Alena, a reworking of Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, takes place in the contemporary art world, while The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles is a "delicious French romp." Critic Maureen Corrigan says both novels are "exquisite vehicles of escape fiction."

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The title of Jennifer Senior's book — All Joy and No Fun — contrasts the strains of day-to-day parenting with the transcendent experience of having a child.

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Are We Having Fun Yet? New Book Explores The Paradox Of Parenting

4:09pm February 04, 2014

Kids can be magical and maddening. The title of Jennifer Senior's book — All Joy and No Fun — contrasts the strains of day-to-day parenting with the transcendent experience of raising a child.

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Midwestern Memoir Tracks 'Flyover Lives' Of Author's Forebears

4:08pm January 31, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Diane Johnson often writes about American heroines living in France, but when she began her memoir, she found herself drawn back to her native ground in America's heartland. Critic Maureen Corrigan says Flyover Lives "lets scenes and conversations speak for themselves, accruing power as they lodge in readers' minds."

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'Le Divorce' Author Finds Stories Closer To Home In 'Flyover'

9:31am January 31, 2014

by NPR Staff

Diane Johnson has spent much of her adult life living in France, writing novels like Le Divorce. But it was not until a visit home, to the Midwestern town of Moline, IL, that the Johnson discovered that her pioneer ancestors had lives worthy of writing about. Her new book, Flyover Lives reconstructs their stories.

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What Wakes B.J. Novak Up In The Middle Of The Night?

7:58am January 31, 2014

by Lynn Neary

B.J. Novak is a triple threat. He got his start in show business as a standup comedian which led to a job on the hit comedy series The Office. Novak had a regular part on the show but he was also one of the writers. Now he has put his writing talent to work on a book of stories: One More Thing.

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A boat skims through the melting ice in the Ilulissat fjord in August 2008, on the western coast of Greenland.

Entrepreneurs Looking For 'Windfall' Cash In On Climate Change

2:48pm January 28, 2014

A new book explores the ways melting Arctic ice yield new shipping channels, new oil and gas resources — and potential profits. Journalist McKenzie Funk delves into the "booming business of global warming" in Windfall.

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Greg Grandin is a professor of history at New York University.

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On This Spanish Slave Ship, Nothing Was As It Seemed

5:14pm January 27, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

In The Empire of Necessity, historian Greg Grandin tells the story of a slave revolt at sea. The 1805 event inspired Herman Melville's Benito Cereno, and Grandin's account of the human horror is a work of power and precision.

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'Pope And Mussolini' Tells The 'Secret History' Of Fascism And The Church

1:45pm January 27, 2014

It's commonly thought that the Catholic Church fought heroically against the fascists in Italy. But in The Pope and Mussolini, historian David Kertzer says the church actually lent organizational strength and moral legitimacy to Mussolini's regime.

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