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Laotian Gen. Vang Pao, seen here calling in air strikes against suspected Communist positions from the Long Cheng Command Post in January 1972, led an army of Hmong tribesmen to fight against Communist insurgents backed by the North Vietnamese. A CIA-led

How The U.S. War In Laos Was Key To The 'Birth Of A Military CIA'

2:57pm January 30, 2017

by Nishant Dahiya

A new book by Joshua Kurlantzick examines how the U.S. involvement in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s transformed the CIA from an intelligence-gathering organization into a war-fighting one.

A photo of a patient receiving care in the hospital.

Doctor Considers The Pitfalls Of Extending Life And Prolonging Death

2:28pm January 30, 2017

In Modern Death, Dr. Haider Warraich says a slow dying process, during which patients move in and out of hospitals or nursing homes, is a "very recent development in our history as a species."

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This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

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'This Is How It Always Is' Was Inspired By Its Author's Transgender Child

9:49am January 30, 2017

by NPR Staff

Still, Laurie Frankel says, her book is fiction. "The nice thing about my life is that it's pretty boring, which is really how you want your life to be — but not how you want your novel to be."

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Lost In Whimsy, 'Perfect Little World' Spins Off Course

10:00am January 29, 2017

by Michael Schaub

Kevin Wilson's new novel follows a pregnant teen who joins an experimental commune — but the characters in Perfect Little World never come alive, and the book suffers from an overdose of whimsy.

Kim Cattrall as socialite — and murder victim — Emily French in The Witness for the Prosecution.

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Kim Cattrall, More Than Just A Murder Victim In 'Witness For The Prosecution'

8:25am January 29, 2017

by NPR Staff

Cattrall — best known for her role on Sex and the City — plays a murdered socialite in a new TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's play. She says she wanted to open up the character and understand her.

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'Caraval' Is A Dark Circus Where The Clowns Don't Like You

7:00am January 29, 2017

by Caitlyn Paxson

Stephanie Garber's quasi-historical young adult novel is one part amusement park, one part Venice and one part game show — but the ending is marred by a muddled message that leaves the story hollow.

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Translating The Untranslatable: 'Between Dog And Wolf'

6:47pm January 28, 2017

Russian author Sasha Sokolov wrote Between Dog and Wolf, which had been deemed untranslatable from the original Russian since 1980. Alexander Boguslawski translated the work to English in December.

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In Comic 'Deathstroke,' Taking Revenge For Victims Of Chicago Gun Violence

8:11am January 28, 2017

DC Comics' Deathstroke has an unusual storyline this week: Chicago mothers hire an assassin to avenge children killed by gun violence. Writer Christopher Priest and illustrator Denys Cowan explain.

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Renowned Biographer Patricia Bosworth Writes A Chapter From Her Own Life

8:11am January 28, 2017

by NPR Staff

The Men in My Life chronicles a 10-year period during which Bosworth married, divorced, finished college, became an actress, and worked alongside some of the biggest movie stars of the 1950s.

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Looping, Twisting 'Number 11' May Be The Perfect Book For Our Time

7:00am January 28, 2017

by Jason Sheehan

Jonathan Coe's new novel is a black-hearted satire about the crumbling of modern Britain, and the point at which childhood gives way to a cold assessment of the world as it is, not as we dream it.