Books

In 1964's The Best Man, presidential candidate and principled intellectual William Russell (Henry Fonda) competes with a TV-savvy opportunist at his (unspecified) party's convention.

What Do Contested Conventions Look Like? Ask Hollywood And Sinclair Lewis

6:53pm July 14, 2016

by Bob Mondello

Thanks to movies, novels and TV, Bob Mondello knows what a contested convention would be like: raucous crowd, oppressive din and (if movies are any guide) Angela Lansbury scheming in the corner.

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An Opera Percussionist Traces Her Path 'From Juilliard to the Orchestra Pit'

3:22pm July 14, 2016

Patti Niemi has been a percussionist for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra since 1992. She speaks with Fresh Air's Sam Briger about performance anxiety, muscle memory and her memoir, Sticking it Out.

Jason Aaron Baca has been featured on more than 475 romance novels.

Meet The Guy Who Has Been A Hero, A Pirate, A 'Mountain Of Molten Lust'

11:43am July 14, 2016

by NPR Staff

Model Jason Aaron Baca has appeared on 475 romance book covers. By his tally, that's more than even Fabio. His is a story of hard work and luck in the swashbuckling, bodice-ripping world of romance.

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Books

Egypt's Repressive Government Frames Yasmine El Rashidi's First Novel

10:14am July 14, 2016

Steve Inskeep talks to journalist Yasmine El Rashidi about her debut novel, Chronicle of a Last Summer. It follows a young Egyptian whose life and country change over three turbulent summers.

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Elie Wiesel speaks at Vermont's Middlebury College in 2002. The Holocaust survivor, Nobel laureate and author died July 2 at the age of 87.

Forgetting Isn't Healing: Lessons From Elie Wiesel

9:06am July 14, 2016

by Sonari Glinton

Calls for racial healing often focus on putting the painful past behind us. NPR's Sonari Glinton remembers the man who taught him never to forget: Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

Books
Arts

Time Catches Up With Us All In 'The Heavenly Table'

7:00am July 14, 2016

by Jason Sheehan

Donald Ray Pollock's surreal, hardscrabble new novel is set in 1917, but it could just as well be 917; his characters are all lost in time and puzzled by the pace at which the future's coming at them.

Gay-straight alliance school bus at Seattle Pride, 2008.

For LGBTQ Students, Author Says, Safety Is 'Not Enough'

6:00am July 14, 2016

by Kendra Yoshinaga

Safety for LGBTQ students is critical, but inclusive policies shouldn't stop there, author Michael Sadowski argues in his new book.

Cover detail from The Dream Life of Astronauts, by Patrick Ryan.

Books
Arts

'The Dream Life Of Astronauts' Is A Journey To Emotional Deep Space

2:42pm July 13, 2016

by Maureen Corrigan

Patrick Ryan's book of short stories is set around Cape Canaveral, Fla., during the 1960s and '70s. Critic Maureen Corrigan says it's the best new short story collection she's read in light years.

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Books
Arts

'The War At Home' Recounts The Tension Of Being A Military Spouse

2:42pm July 13, 2016

As the wife of a Navy fighter pilot, memoirist Rachel Starnes has had much of her life — including where she lives and how often she gets to live with her husband — determined by his career.

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Comedy writer Jessi Klein speaks at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015. Klein has also written for Saturday Night Live and Transparent.

Books
Arts

'Schumer' Writer Jessi Klein On Barbies, Ageism And Pumping At The Emmys

10:03am July 13, 2016

Klein won an Emmy in 2015 for her work on Inside Amy Schumer. Her new book, You'll Grow Out of It, is a collection of humorous personal essays.

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