Books

The writer who wins next year's Aspen Words Literary Prize will join Tayari Jones and Mohsin Hamid on the list of winners of the young award.

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Arts

EXCLUSIVE: 'Nickel Boys,' 'Other Americans' Among Nominees For Aspen Words Prize

12:59pm November 14, 2019

by Colin Dwyer

The literary prize, which honors fiction that tackles tough social issues, has announced a longlist of 16 titles. The nominees for the $35,000 prize include some big names and plenty of debuts.

Queen of the Conquered, by Kacen Callender

Books
Arts

'Queen Of The Conquered' Serves Revenge With Delicacy And Savagery

7:00am November 14, 2019

by Jason Heller

In their new novel, Kacen Callender builds a vast, immersive landscape based on the colonial history of the Caribbean, but it's their morally conflicted heroine who will really hook readers.

What's In The Anonymous Official's 'A Warning'

5:02am November 14, 2019

by Ron Elving

We look at what's contained in the book by an anonymous author, who only self-identifies as "a senior official in the Trump administration."

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Cover detail of The Great Pretender, by Susannah Cahalan

Books
Arts

'The Great Pretender' Investigates A Landmark Moment In Psychiatric History

4:09pm November 13, 2019

by Maureen Corrigan

In the '70s David Rosenhan and seven "pseudopatients" went undercover in mental health wards. Their resulting article rocked the psychiatric world. But Susannah Cahalan struggled to confirm the facts.

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"The profession we love has been taken over," psychiatrist and novelist Samuel Shem tells NPR, "with us sitting there in front of screens all day, doing data entry in a computer factory."

Novelist Doctor Skewers Corporate Medicine In 'Man's 4th Best Hospital'

9:00am November 13, 2019

by Mara Gordon

Samuel Shem's 1978 novel, The House of God, was a sardonic look at U.S. medicine through a young doctor's eyes. Shem's new fiction checks in with the same crew in the age of medicine by smartphone.

Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale, by Adam Minter

What Happens To Your Used Stuff? 'Secondhand' Tells Of A Billion-Dollar Industry

8:42am November 13, 2019

by Gabino Iglesias

As "traditional bonds disintegrate in the face of industrialization, urbanization, and secularization, brands and objects become a means to curate and project who we are," writes reporter Adam Minter.

Books
Arts

'Mama Hissa's Mice' Creep Through A Dystopian Future Kuwait

7:00am November 13, 2019

by Ilana Masad

Saud Alsanousi's novel follows a group of Kuwaiti kids growing up in the 1980s — then jumps to a near future torn by sectarian violence. It's a resonant book that asks more questions than it answers.

Books

Flea Talks About His Wild Childhood In 1970s Hollywood In 'Acid For The Children'

5:20pm November 12, 2019

Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is out with a new book, Acid for the Children. But the book is not a typical rockstar memoir — it's about his wild childhood in 1970s Hollywood.

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How Internet Trolls And Online Extremists Are 'Hijacking' American Politics

1:43pm November 12, 2019

by Terry Gross

New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz spent years with far-right online extremists, embedding with them and watching them spread false news by exploiting social media. His new book is Antisocial.

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Some Of Us Are Very Hungry Now, by Andre Perry

In 'Some Of Us Are Very Hungry Now,' Revelations Morph Into Mirrors

10:01am November 12, 2019

by Gabino Iglesias

Andre Perry's debut essay collection reads like a slightly fragmented memoir focused on the search for identity, the desire to write, and his constant sense of unease as a black man in Iowa City.