Books

Books
Arts

Living A Life Of Joy 'Until I Say Good-Bye'

8:18am March 09, 2013

by NPR Staff

Journalist Susan Spencer-Wendel was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 2011. In her new memoir, Until I Say Good-Bye, she describes a year spent living with the disease but devoted to joy: traveling, visiting friends and family, and accepting her fate with grace.

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John Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation gives a speech on November 17, 1953, in Washington.

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The History Of The FBI's Secret 'Enemies' List

1:00pm March 08, 2013

As J. Edgar Hoover became increasingly worried about communist threats against America, he instructed the bureau to conduct secret intelligence operations against anyone deemed "subversive." Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner is now out in paperback.

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Retired Major League Baseball player Mike Piazza's new autobiography, Long Shot, addresses the steroid controversy and recalls the first game after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Making It In The Big Leagues Was A 'Long Shot' For Catcher Mike Piazza

3:30pm March 07, 2013

In a new memoir, the Major League Baseball catcher opens up about getting drafted in the 62nd round, his feud with Roger Clemens and what it's like to go into retirement. Leaving the game, he says, was "like a small death."

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Books

A Fiendish Fly Recalls Kafka In 'Jacob's Folly'

2:30pm March 06, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

The main character in Rebecca Miller's new novel is a pest with a past, and his gnat-like status offers him one great advantage: Those convex eyes allow him to see fully into the hearts of humans, specifically two other characters whose paths intersect with his.

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In Sly Self-Help Novel, Selling Clean Water Gets You 'Filthy Rich'

11:18am March 06, 2013

by NPR Staff

In Mohsin Hamid's fictional how-to, a nameless protagonist makes a fortune selling knockoff bottled water in a thirsty Asian metropolis. Hamid joins NPR's Steve Inkeep to discuss the book's conceit and the side effects of rampant development.

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O'Connor served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006.

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Arts

'Out Of Order' At The Court: O'Connor On Being The First Female Justice

4:15pm March 05, 2013

Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, discusses her new book about the history of the court, and why she doesn't like the term "swing vote." O'Connor served for 24 years, retiring in 2006 to care for her ailing husband.

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This Dec. 26, 2004, photograph shows a trail of destruction in the southern Sri Lankan town of Lunawa after tidal waves lashed more than half of Sri Lanka's coastline.

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'Wave' Tells A True Story Of Survival And Loss In The 2004 Tsunami

7:56am March 05, 2013

by Lynn Neary

Sonali Deraniyagala lost her husband, two sons and parents to the Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people. Her new memoir recounts the events of that fateful day.

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Skipping Out On College And 'Hacking Your Education'

5:18am March 05, 2013

by NPR Staff

Dale Stephens says many students would be better off ditching college and finding alternate ways to complete their educations. His new book, Hacking Your Education, explores that idea. "When you think about education as an investment, you have to think about what the return is going to be," he says.

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Jamaica Kincaid, author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, lives in Vermont.

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Arts

Time Rules In Jamaica Kincaid's New Novel, 'See Now Then'

8:44pm March 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sweet is anything but sweet. In Jamaica Kincaid's first new novel in 10 years, she traces the unraveling of a marriage. See Now Then follows the joy, pain and destruction that time can wreak on a union.

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Mary Robinson was Ireland's first female president. A former United Nations High Commissioner and activist lawyer, she has advocated for human rights around the world.

For Ireland's First Female President, 'Everybody Matters'

5:21pm March 02, 2013

by NPR Staff

In her memoir, Mary Robinson speaks of her experience advocating for social causes and her personal convictions after growing up in a deeply Catholic family.

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