Arts & Life

A new book examines billionaire filmmaker Howard Hughes and the sexual relationships he had with Hollywood actresses. He's shown above in 1947.

Books
Arts

'Sex, Lies And Stardom': Exploitation In Howard Hughes' Hollywood

7:47pm November 13, 2018

by Terry Gross

Karina Longworth's new book, Seduction, tells the story of 10 women who had sexual relationships with Hughes. "These things have always happened and they were never talked about publicly," she says.

Queue Listen Now

Comic book writer Stan Lee and actor Chadwick Boseman attend the world premiere of Marvel Studios Black Panther.

Arts

Opinion: How Stan Lee Helped This Blerd Find His Superhero

6:02pm November 13, 2018

by Eric Deggans

For one black nerd growing up in Indiana, Stan Lee's world was an amazing step forward.

Marisol (Malena Villa) and Carlos (Lorenzo Ferro) get triggered in El Angel.

Arts

Death Wears A Pleasing Face In The Swoony, Stylized 'El Angel'

5:28pm November 13, 2018

by Bob Mondello

Writer/director Luis Ortega invests the tale of a brutal but beautiful young serial killer who terrorized Argentina in the 1970s with an intoxicating sense of glamour.

Queue Listen Now

A Tale of Two Murders: Guilt, Innocence and the Execution of Edith Thompson, by Laura Thompson

Books
Arts

'A Tale Of Two Murders' Asks Whether Justice Was Done In A Famous, Century-Old Trial

11:39am November 13, 2018

by Ilana Masad

In the 1920s, Edith Thompson was executed along with her lover, who was found guilty of murdering her husband. Laura Thompson looks at how social conventions may have lead to an unjust outcome.

Montoya (right) hugs 2018-2019 Miss Indian World Taylor Susan after the coronation ceremony.

Arts

Becoming Miss Navajo Nation

6:57am November 13, 2018

by Caitlin O'Hara

The Miss Navajo Nation pageant has been held every year since 1952. Contestants in this year's pageant met for a weeklong celebration of the traditions of female Navajo Nation life.

Stan Lee, American comic book writer, editor, publisher and former President of Marvel Comics, attends the premiere of Doctor Strange in 2016. Lee died Monday at the age of 95.

Books
Arts

A True Believer Remembers Stan Lee

6:25pm November 12, 2018

by Glen Weldon

Stan Lee — born Stanley Martin Lieber — co-created many beloved Marvel Comics characters, but he became the company's tireless, beloved figurehead. NPR's Glen Weldon offers a remembrance.

Lee at Comic-Con in San Diego on July 19, 2013.

A Marvel Of A Man: Stan Lee Dead At 95

4:27pm November 12, 2018

by Beth Accomando

Lee gave us over six decades' worth of superheroes we could identify with, characters like Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk, who reacted to superpowered crises in believably flawed, human ways.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Stolen Stories: A Literary Con Man Climbs To Success In 'Ladder To The Sky'

2:17pm November 12, 2018

by Maureen Corrigan

A charismatic young writer poaches plot points from the lives of established authors in John Boyne's new novel. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls A Ladder to the Sky "erudite and ingeniously constructed."

Queue Listen Now

Humans would do better to accept many of the life forms that share our space, than to scrub them all away, says ecologist Rob Dunn.

Counting The Bugs And Bacteria, You're 'Never Home Alone' (And That's OK)

2:16pm November 12, 2018

by Terry Gross

Ecologist Rob Dunn's new book describes the tiny life forms, helpful and risky, that live in different parts of the home, including on floors and in water faucets, basements and heating systems.

Queue Listen Now

"Our data suggests that something about baking seems to be changing the hands of the people who do the baking," says ecologist Rob Dunn.

Sourdough Hands: How Bakers And Bread Are A Microbial Match

11:37am November 12, 2018

In Robert Dunn's new book, Never Home Alone, he explores our symbiotic relationship with food: Not only do we impact the bacteria in our food, but the microbes in our food imprint our bodies.