Books

Books

An Admitted 'Ham' Shares Slices Of Show-Biz Life

12:14pm January 25, 2014

Sixteen short stories of a triumphant, tragic, and most of all, hilarious life in show business make up Sam Harris' new memoir, Ham: Slices of a Life. NPR's Jacki Lyden speaks to Harris about his rise to fame after winning the first season of the 1980's hit TV show Star Search.

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Ann Patchett is an award-winning novelist and memoirist. Her other books include Truth & Beauty, The Magician's Assistant and Run.

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Patchett: In Bad Relationships, 'There Comes A Day When You Gotta Go'

4:58pm January 23, 2014

Ann Patchett got married and divorced young. When she met the man who would eventually become her second husband she said: "I'll be true, I'll be faithful, I'll see you every day ... but I don't want to get married and I don't want to live together." Her new book is This Is The Story of a Happy Marriage.

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Skeptic Takes A Tour Of Self-Help's 'Promise Land'

3:29pm January 22, 2014

Despite being the daughter of a child psychologist and self-help author, Jessica Lamb-Shapiro has spent most of her life recoiling from the self-help industry. But eventually, her curiosity got the best of her. She tells Fresh Air about self-help's high- and low-brow iterations and the ways the industry helped her address her fears.

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For World Superpowers, The Negotiating Table Often Had A Net

7:44pm January 20, 2014

Melissa Block talks with Nicholas Griffin about his book, Ping-Pong Diplomacy, which explores the importance of the tabletop game in Chinese political history and foreign policy.

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Demonstrators march down Constitution Avenue during the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.

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The Politics Of Passing 1964's Civil Rights Act

6:35pm January 20, 2014

The act, among other things, ended the era of legal segregation in public accommodations, like restaurants and hotels. This year marks the 50th anniversary of its passage. Author Todd Purdum joins Fresh Air to talk about the legislative and political battles that surrounded it.

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detail from cover of Forgiving the Angel

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Living, And 'Forgiving,' In A Brilliant Writer's Orbit

11:35am January 18, 2014

by NPR Staff

Jay Cantor is a hard author to nail down. He's written about topics as wide-ranging as Che Guevara and Krazy Kat. His latest work expands his range even more, fictionalizing the lives of four of Franz Kafka's friends and lovers. It's called Forgiving the Angel, and Cantor tells NPR's Lynn Neary it's a book born out of gratitude.

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A Strange Composition: Classical Music Meets Bioterror In 'Orfeo'

8:33pm January 17, 2014

by NPR Staff

Richard Powers' new novel tells the story of an avant-garde classical composer who finds himself dabbling in DNA. He "gets obsessed with finding music inside of living things," Powers explains, and, as a fugitive, ends up leading officials on a low-speed chase.

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Gabriel Sherman is a contributing editor at New York Magazine, where he's written cover stories on media, politics and business.

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Book Chronicles The Building Of Roger Ailes' Fox News Empire

5:00pm January 17, 2014

Gabriel Sherman traces the beginning of Fox News' success back to its wall-to-wall coverage of Monica Lewinsky. He says, "Ratings during the Lewinsky scandal exploded more than 400 percent, so you saw instantly that there was a market for this type of ... television." Sherman's book is called The Loudest Voice In The Room.

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Chang-rae Lee Stretches For Dystopic Drama, But Doesn't Quite Reach

2:04pm January 14, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Lee is acclaimed for his realistic and historical fiction, but he's made a foray into the futuristic sci-fi genre with a new novel called On Such a Full Sea. Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan says sometimes it's better for writers to stick closer to familiar shores.

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Watch an interactive of the Supreme Court justice narrating her personal family photos. (Above: Sotomayor, 1959)

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As A Latina, Sonia Sotomayor Says, 'You Have To Work Harder'

12:46pm January 14, 2014

The Supreme Court justice tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, "In every position that I've been in, there have been naysayers who don't believe I'm qualified or who don't believe I can do the work." She has committed herself to proving those people wrong.

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