Arts & Life

Edgar Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen is on display at the National Gallery of Art until Jan. 11.

Arts

'Little Dancer' Musical Imagines The Story Behind Degas' Mysterious Muse

11:31am October 20, 2014

by Susan Stamberg

Ballerina Marie Van Goethem started modeling for Edgar Degas around 1878 and inspired his statue Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. But history lost track of her after she left the Paris Opera.

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The Boston Herald published this cartoon earlier this month.

The Boston Herald's Missed 'Cartoongate' Lessons

10:38am October 20, 2014

by Eric Deggans

The newspaper's heartfelt column about a political cartoon that was widely criticized as racist raises a question: Did editors learn the right lessons from the uproar?

A woman looks at an oil portrait of Toni Morrison at the National Portrait Gallery. A self-portrait of sorts, Morrison's life of fiction drawn in words will be permanently kept at Princeton.

Books
Arts

Book News: Toni Morrison's Collection Finds A Permanent Home At Princeton

10:31am October 20, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

The Nobel laureate taught at Princeton University for 17 years. Now, her papers — some 180 linear feet of them — are returning to be housed in the school's library. Also: a roundup of new releases.

Arts

Starring In 'Fury': The Horrors That People Are Capable Of In War

7:21am October 20, 2014

by Kenneth Turan

The WWII drama Fury is about a U.S. sergeant and his five-man crew on a mission behind enemy lines. Kenneth Turan reviews the film, directed by David Ayer and starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf.

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Arts

Waterless Worlds The New Hot Dystopia

7:09pm October 19, 2014

by Neda Ulaby

Following years worth of news stories about climate change and drought, books and movies are starting to capture those stories, too. Worlds without water are the settings for quite a few new projects.

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Amid The Chaos Of Debt Collection, 'Bad Paper' Offers A Riveting Roadmap

5:32am October 19, 2014

by Colin Dwyer

It's not often that a book can mix machetes with hedge funds. Then again, few industries are as chaotic, and compelling, as debt collection — which Jake Halpern's book reveals in alarming detail.

Edet Belzberg's other films include the documentaries Children Underground and The Recruiter.

Arts

The Man Who Coined 'Genocide' Spent His Life Trying To Stop It

7:40pm October 18, 2014

by NPR Staff

Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the word in 1943, as part of his lifelong campaign to make the world acknowledge and prosecute the crime. A new documentary, Watchers of the Sky, tells his story.

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Books
Arts

Back Across The Wall: Questions For Garth Nix

7:07pm October 18, 2014

by Petra Mayer

Author Garth Nix returns to the world of the Old Kingdom with Clariel, the story of a young woman of great magical power who, denied the freedom to live as she wants, chooses a dangerous path.

Books
Arts

A Funny Philosopher Tackles A Tough Query: 'Does Santa Exist?'

6:49pm October 18, 2014

by NPR Staff

Eric Kaplan's son had a zoo trip canceled because one mom worried about reindeer-induced questions. So Kaplan, a comedy writer and philosophy grad student, started pondering the puzzle of St. Nick.

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Arts

Fracking Boom Town Wary Of Pastor's 'Overnighters'

3:46pm October 18, 2014

Jesse Moss tells NPR's Scott Simon about his documentary, The Overnighters. It follows a pastor in a North Dakota oil boom town whose life is upended when he opens the church to down-and-out workers.

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