Books

Q&A: Author Boyah J. Farah reflects on being Black in America

6:43am September 16, 2022

by Leah Donnella

In his memoir, America Made Me a Black Man, Farah tells of what American blackness has meant to him, from his childhood in Somalia to his adolescence in the Northeast — to his return to Somalia.

'Friday Night Lights' author tackles a historic WWII football match-up

1:26pm September 15, 2022

by Dave Davies

Buzz Bissinger revisits a football game among Marines that took place on a Pacific island in 1945, while they were waiting to engage in the assault on Okinawa. His new book is The Mosquito Bowl.

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Lisa McNair holds her memoir Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew, recounting growing up in Birmingham, Ala., after her sister Denise and three other Black girls were murdered in the Ku Klux Klan bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church.

Her sister was killed in the Birmingham church bombing. A new book tells their story

6:30pm September 14, 2022

In a new memoir, Lisa McNair recounts growing up in Birmingham, Ala., after her sister Denise and three other Black girls were murdered in the 1963 Ku Klux Klan bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church.

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Books
Arts

Ling Ma's stories start out familiar but get very, very weird

1:21pm September 14, 2022

by Maureen Corrigan

Nothing is just one thing in Bliss Montage: Satire swirls into savagery; a gimmicky premise into poignancy. Ma writes with such authority that readers are simply swept along.

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Nina Totenberg looks back on her decades-long friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsburg

12:58pm September 14, 2022

by Terry Gross

The NPR legal affairs correspondent met the future SCOTUS justice in the early '70s, when Totenberg interviewed Ruth Bader Ginsburg for a story about a decision pertaining to women's rights.

We see rituals in almost every part of our lives, from celebrations to methods of alleviating stress.

Your everyday rituals do impact your life — just not how you might expect

10:17am September 14, 2022

In his new book, scientist and author Dimitris Xygalatas explores how performing all kinds of rituals will have tangible impacts on our everyday lives

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Books
Arts

David Milch's 'Life's Work' holds lessons about humanity and the power of art

7:04am September 14, 2022

by Kristen Martin

The TV creator's memoir was written in collaboration with his wife and daughters, who helped him piece together thoughts and memories that evade him due to Alzheimer's disease.

Zelenskyy's former spokesperson writes about working with the Ukrainian president

5:48pm September 13, 2022

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with political adviser Iuliia Mendel about her book, The Fight of Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine's Battle for Democracy and What it Means for the World.

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Books
Arts

Rituals are important to human life — even when they seem meaningless

4:38pm September 13, 2022

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas about his new book, Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living.

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President Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices and nominated 274 individuals to federal judgeships. Journalist David Enrich says many of those picks were influenced by lawyers from the firm of Jones Day.

How lawyers from one giant DC firm influenced Trump's Supreme Court picks

2:13pm September 13, 2022

by Terry Gross

Servants of the Damned author David Enrich says lawyers from the firm of Jones Day were deeply embedded in the Trump White House — and helped create policy designed to limit the federal government.

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