Books

A Leader's Job Is To Set The Vision, Retired Gen. Mattis Says

12:01pm September 03, 2019

In the second part of his interview with former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to the retired general about leadership. Mattis' new book is: Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead.

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James Mattis spent four decades in the Marines. He served as a commander in Afghanistan shortly after the al-Qaida attacks in 2001.

Jim Mattis: 'Nations With Allies Thrive, Nations Without Allies Wither'

12:11pm September 02, 2019

In an interview with NPR, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stresses the importance of allies and he also criticizes shifting U.S. policy aims during the wars of the past 18 years.

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Books
Arts

'Fly, Already' Doesn't Quite Get Airborne

10:00am September 02, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Etgar Keret at his best can be brilliant, and some of the stories in his new collection are nearly perfect, but over all it's an uneven read, weighed down by pointless whimsy and unearned pessimism.

Books
Arts

Structural Injustice Is At The Core Of 'We, The Survivors'

7:00am September 02, 2019

by Lily Meyer

Tash Aw's beautifully written new novel focuses on class issues in contemporary Malaysia, where his compelling protagonist is struggling to lead a quiet life after a long-ago murder conviction.

Books
Arts

Voices Of The Past: Questions For Poet Renato Rosaldo

12:00pm September 01, 2019

by Stefanie Fernández

As a kid in Tucson in the 1950s, anthropologist and poet Renato Rosaldo ran with a crew called the Chasers. 50 years later, he interviewed them at a reunion and created prose poems in their voices.

The Turn of Midnight, by Minette Walters

Books
Arts

'The Turn Of Midnight' Looks Towards Dawn

10:00am September 01, 2019

by Bethanne Patrick

Minette Walters' sequel to The Last Hours finds her medieval villagers beginning to deal with the fact that they've survive the Black Death — and what that means for what's left of society.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has written a children's book called Just Ask! inspired by her desire to help kids embrace diversity. "If you don't know why someone's doing something, just ask them," she says. "Don't assume the worst in people."

'Just Ask!' Says Sonia Sotomayor. She Knows What It's Like To Feel Different

8:38am September 01, 2019

by Samantha Balaban

We're all different and that's good, says the U.S. Supreme Court justice. Her new children's book about embracing diversity portrays kids of all abilities working together to create a gorgeous garden.

Books
Arts

In 'The Ventriloquists,' The True Story Of A Fake Newspaper

7:00am September 01, 2019

by Jean Zimmerman

E.R. Ramzipoor's novel tells the story a group of resisters in Belgium during World War II who lampooned the Nazis by putting out a satirical edition of the newspaper Le Soir, then a Nazi mouthpiece.

Books

Book: 'The Plateau'

6:12pm August 31, 2019

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with anthropologist Maggie Paxson about her latest book The Plateau.

Books

Art Heists Recounted In 'Stealing The Show'

8:19am August 31, 2019

NPR's Scott Simon talks to John Barelli, who ran security at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, about his new book, Stealing the Show: A History of Art and Crime in Six Thefts.