Books

'Triumph Of William McKinley' Speaks To The Ages, Karl Rove Says

2:57pm December 03, 2015

Steve Inskeep talks to Republican strategist Karl Rove about his book of history that he believes sheds light on politics today: the 1896 presidential election of William McKinley.

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'Like Family' Rewards The Patient Reader

7:03am December 03, 2015

by Heller McAlpin

Physicist-turned-author Paolo Giordano's new novel follows a couple adrift after their beloved housekeeper dies. Critic Heller McAlpin says the book is melancholy, but offers a subtle hope.

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Gloria Steinem Shares What She Learned 'On The Road'

6:20pm December 02, 2015

by Ina Jaffe

At 81, Gloria Steinem is still going strong. The noted feminist has been on tour promoting a new book, My Life On The Road, which she insists is not a memoir.

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Classic Sci-Fi Comic 'Eternaut' Fights The Power

9:28am December 02, 2015

by Etelka Lehoczky

What should science fiction look like? That's a question that absorbed the creators of The Eternaut, an iconic comic about an alien invasion, first serialized in a Buenos Aires newspaper in the 1950s.

Historian Mary Beard says real gladiator competitions were probably not as brutal as the film Gladiator (starring Russell Crowe) would have us believe. Still, she says, "I loved Gladiator and I thought its depiction of gladiatorial combat, although it was

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From Gladiator Duels To Caesar's Last Words: The Myths Of Ancient Rome

9:15am December 01, 2015

Historian Mary Beard says many of our popular notions about the empire are based on culture — like the play Julius Caesar or the film Gladiator — rather than fact. Her new book is called SPQR.

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'Your Brother's Blood' Gives New Life To The Undead

7:04am December 01, 2015

by Jason Heller

Zombie stories are everywhere, but David Towsey's new book takes an unexpected turn — to a gritty, far-future world with echoes of the American West, full of undead who still have hearts and souls.

How The Brain Tells Real From Fake: From Fine Art To Fine Wine

12:04am December 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

Shankar speaks with Noah Charney, author of The Art of Forgery, about what motivates art forgers. Also this week on Hidden Brain: why we love studies that prove wine connoisseurs wrong.

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For decades, astronomers believed there was another planet hiding just out of sight behind the sun. It wasn't until Albert Einstein that this belief was finally debunked.

A Star-Crossed 'Scientific Fact': The Story Of Vulcan, Planet That Never Was

3:20pm November 30, 2015

by NPR Staff

For decades, astronomers believed there was another planet in our solar system, tucked just out of sight. Then Albert Einstein figured out it wasn't there. Author Thomas Levenson explains.

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No Meekness Here: Meet Rosa Parks, 'Lifelong Freedom Fighter'

2:13am November 30, 2015

by NPR Staff

As the 60th anniversary of the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott approaches, author Jeanne Theoharis says it's time to let go of the image of Rosa Parks as an unassuming accidental activist.

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'Not Without My Daughter' Subject Grows Up, Tells Her Own Story

7:47am November 29, 2015

"Not Without My Daughter" told the story of an American mother and daughter fleeing Iran. Now that young girl is telling her own story in her memoir, "My Name is Mahtob."