Author Interviews

'Hidden History' Of Koch Brothers Traces Their Childhood And Political Rise

8:28am January 20, 2016

Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money, says the Kochs didn't grow up in "the usual cozy, all-American family." Their parents were away much of the time, and competition between the brothers was fierce.

Queue Listen Now

'Dark Money': Koch Brothers' Donations Push Their Political Agenda

7:23am January 19, 2016

Steve Inskeep talks to author Jane Mayer about her new book Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.

Queue Listen Now

Cover detail from William Grimes' narrative.

Books
Arts

When Ancestry Search Led To Escaped Slave: 'All I Could Do Was Weep'

1:49pm January 18, 2016

Regina Mason's great-great-great-grandfather, a man named William Grimes, was a runaway slave and the author of what is now considered to be the first fugitive slave narrative.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Family Bonds Are Never Bland In 'The Past'

10:30am January 16, 2016

by NPR Staff

In her latest novel, The Past, Tessa Hadley focuses on four siblings spending one last holiday at a soon-to-be-sold summer home. Tensions simmer, secrets break out of storage — but love remains.

Queue Listen Now

Dawn Anahid MacKeen's grandfather, Stepan Miskjian (left), is pictured with friends around 1910, just a few years before the Armenian genocide.

Long After Armenian Genocide, Retracing A Grandfather's Steps To Survival

4:23pm January 15, 2016

by NPR Staff

For The Hundred-Year Walk, author Dawn Anahid MacKeen visited the sites of her grandfather's escape. Like him, she says she found a haven in Raqqa, Syria, a city currently controlled by ISIS.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Herman Wouk Says He's A 'Happy Gent' At 100

5:09pm January 14, 2016

by Lynn Neary

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of beloved blockbusters like The Winds of War is celebrating his milestone with a new memoir, Sailor and Fiddler, that sums up his thoughts on what it means to write.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

The Failed Coup That Led To Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'

4:33pm January 14, 2016

Adolf Hitler wrote his famous manifesto while serving time for an attempted coup that started in a German beer hall. Author Peter Ross Range says, "There was an obvious need to get his message out."

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Super Bowl Commercial Inspires Maraniss To Write About Detroit's Better Times

2:15pm January 14, 2016

David Greene talks to journalist David Maraniss about a key moment when Detroit seemed to rule the world. Maraniss has written a history of Detroit's commerce and culture called Once in a Great City.

Queue Listen Now

Books

'Bad News' Chronicles The Loss Of Press Freedom In Rwanda

7:25pm January 13, 2016

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with author Anjan Sundaram about his new book, Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship, which tells the story of dwindling press freedom in Rwanda.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'My Ears Are Open': Novelist Elizabeth Strout Finds Inspiration In Everyday Life

2:21pm January 13, 2016

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge says she was a "bad lawyer" before turning her energies to writing. Her latest novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, is about an aspiring writer.

Queue Listen Now