Books

cover detail from Transcription by Kate Atkinson

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Arts

Secrets Of A Teenage WWII Spy In 'Transcription'

7:53am September 23, 2018

by Renee Montagne

The young protagonist of Kate Atkinson's latest historical novel finds herself working for British intelligence during the war — and suddenly confronting that experience years later.

'Night Moves' Captures Fleeting Moments In Chicago — And Life

7:01am September 23, 2018

by Mariya Karimjee

Jessica Hopper's memoir oscillates between charting a story of gentrification, a young woman's love affair with Chicago, and the types of friendships that represent the texture of a city.

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'Unclaimed Baggage' Is The Quintessential Southern Novel For Teens

7:00am September 23, 2018

by Alethea Kontis

Jen Doll's new novel follows a group of misfit kids working at Alabama's legendary Unclaimed Baggage store, a place where all kinds of lost things (and people, and one purple leopard suitcase) end up.

The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing by Merve Emre.

How The Myers-Briggs Personality Test Began In A Mother's Living Room Lab

5:26pm September 22, 2018

by Melissa Block

"The language of type can be immensely clarifying," says author Merve Emre. In The Personality Brokers she describes how a mother-daughter duo started a multi-million dollar "people sorting" industry.

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Ashley Toliver's 'Spectra' Is Her First Major Book Of Poems

7:54am September 22, 2018

NPR's Scott Simon talks to Ashley Toliver about her collection of poems entitled Spectra. It examines the writer's experiences with relationships, giving birth and living with cancer.

Imani Perry, author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry

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Lorraine Hansberry: Radiant, Radical — And More Than 'Raisin'

6:28am September 22, 2018

by Karen Grigsby Bates

A new biography of the African-American playwright shows that she was so much more than her most famous work: A Raisin in the Sun.

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Muhammad Ali Biography Reveals A Flawed Rebel Who Loved Attention

1:40pm September 21, 2018

by Terry Gross

"I don't think we do Ali any good by treating him as a saint," says biographer Jonathan Eig. "He was a human being, and he was deeply flawed." Originally broadcast Oct. 4, 2017.

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New Biography More Fully Defines Playwright Lorraine Hansberry

6:30am September 21, 2018

by Karen Grigsby Bates

Historian Imani Perry looks beyond Hansberry's artistic genius to her involvement in several movements — civil rights, LGBTQ rights, anti-colonialism — ahead of the popular curve.

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Enric Marco stands next to a Spanish Republican flag at Mauthausen camp in Austria in May 2003. Marco, who was chairman of an association of Spanish Republicans deported from France to Nazi concentration camps during World War II, admitted in May 2005 tha

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Javier Cercas Uncovers The Truth Behind Spain's 'Impostor'

12:01am September 21, 2018

by Ari Shapiro

In his new book, The Impostor, Javier Cercas unravels the lies that created the life of Enric Marco — a man who for years portrayed himself as a Holocaust survivor and Spanish Civil War hero.

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The books on the shortlist for the 2018 Man Booker Prize, from top to bottom: The Long Take, by Robin Robertson; Milkman, by Anna Burns; Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan; Everything Under, by Daisy Johnson; The Mars Room, by Rachel Kushner; and The Overst

Books
Arts

From 'Everything Under' To 'Overstory': The 2018 Man Booker Prize Shortlist

1:40pm September 20, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

Just half a dozen authors remain in contention for the prestigious fiction award: Anna Burns, Esi Edugyan, Daisy Johnson, Rachel Kushner, Richard Powers and Robin Robertson.