Author Interviews

40 Years After Watergate, A Look Back At Nixon's Downfall

1:43pm May 22, 2014

by NPR Staff

Political journalist Elizabeth Drew chronicled the events of 1974 in her recently reissued Washington Journal. She tells NPR's Robert Siegel that she sees "a certain nobility" in Nixon's resilience.

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How The Koch Brothers Remade America's Political Landscape

5:08pm May 21, 2014

Charles and David Koch have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to bring their libertarian views into the mainstream. In a new book, Daniel Schulman looks at the roots of their ideology.

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Edward St. Aubyn's 2006 novel Mother's Milk was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Books
Arts

In Life And Fiction, Edward St. Aubyn Sheds The Weight Of His Past

6:39pm May 20, 2014

The writer is best known for his semi-autobiographical novels about an Englishman from a posh but monstrous family. St. Aubyn's new book marks a departure.

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Books
Arts

Mark Twain's Famous Outcasts Float Through Three Centuries

11:29am May 17, 2014

Huck Finn and his friend Jim float down the Mississippi through the Jim Crow South and Hurricane Katrina in a new book called The Boy in His Winter. NPR's Scott Simon talks with author Norman Lock.

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Books
Arts

'Wynne's War,' A Modern Take On The Classic 'Mideastern'

11:29am May 17, 2014

Wynne's War is part western, part war novel. NPR's Scott Simon talks with author Aaron Gwyn about the book that follows a U.S. Special Forces unit on horseback through Afghanistan.

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Greenwald On NSA Leaks: 'We've Erred On The Side Of Excess Caution'

4:24pm May 14, 2014

Journalist Glenn Greenwald says he and his team weighed the public's interest against the potential harm to innocent people when deciding how many of Edward Snowden's leaked documents to make public.

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'Good Doctor' Puts Past Medical Practices Under An Ethical Microscope

5:49pm May 13, 2014

In a new book, bioethicist and internist Barron Lerner recalls how he came to question some of his father's medical practices — practices that were common among many doctors of that generation.

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Then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in 2012. He says he struggled with communicating why he had to help the banks during the financial crisis.

For Geithner, Financial Crisis Was Like Landing A Burning Plane

8:27pm May 12, 2014

by NPR Staff

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received mixed reviews of his performance during the financial crisis. In his new book, he says he did what was required to "keep the lights on."

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Philippe Petit has been crossing high wires for 45 years.

Books
Arts

For Artistic Criminal, Breaking Rules Is Key To 'Creativity'

10:19am May 12, 2014

by NPR Staff

Performer Philippe Petit, who walked between the World Trade Center towers in 1974, says the difference between the average criminal and an artistic one is that the former takes and the latter gives.

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Books
Arts

Seeing The Whole Picture In We'll Go To 'Coney Island'

11:44am May 10, 2014

In a collection of old photos, Barbara Scheiber spotted her father and his mistress on the Coney Island boardwalk. She talks to NPR's Scott Simon about her new book, We'll Go to Coney Island.

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