Author Interviews

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up the Kindle Fire HD in two sizes during a press conference in Santa Monica, Calif., in September 2012.

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Arts

One-Stop Shop: Jeff Bezos Wants You To Buy 'Everything' On Amazon

12:51pm October 15, 2013

In his new book, The Everything Store, journalist Brad Stone says Amazon "ended up forever changing the way we shop and read." He says CEO Jeff Bezos started out selling books, but always had the intention of turning the online market into a company that sold everything.

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Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an, by Denise Spellberg

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The Surprising Story Of 'Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an'

2:53pm October 13, 2013

by NPR Staff

Author Denise Spellberg's book draws parallels between the beliefs of the founding father and religious tolerance in the United States today.

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Parenting A Child Who's Fallen 'Far From The Tree'

12:33pm October 11, 2013

Andrew Solomon's book is about families with children who are profoundly different or likely to be stigmatized. "We all love flawed children," says Solomon, "and the general assumption that these more extreme flaws make ... children somehow unlovable — it wasn't true of most of my experience."

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Elizabeth Smart Says Kidnapper Was A 'Master At Manipulation'

4:08pm October 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

Smart, who was held captive for nine months at age 14, describes the 2002 ordeal in a new memoir called My Story. She's now an advocate for children's safety education and says "the best punishment" she can give her abusers is to move on with her life and be happy.

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In 'Egghead,' A New Shel: Burnham Takes On Silverstein

12:16pm October 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

Bo Burnham got his start in comedy on the Internet rather than in clubs. He found fame on YouTube and parlayed millions of views into a thriving career. Now, he's turned to the printed page with Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone, a collection of comedic poetry modeled on Shel Silverstein.

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40 Years Ago, 'Fear Of Flying' Showed Women Like Sex, Too

9:31am October 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

Back in 1973, Erica Jong was tired of the silent, seething housewife, so she introduced a new kind of female protagonist: one who loved sex and wasn't ashamed to admit it. Jong joins NPR's Susan Stamberg to talk about hook-ups, Fifty Shades of Gray, and of course, the "zipless f - - - ."

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How Reddit Emerged From A Rejected (And Very Different) Idea

6:36pm October 05, 2013

by NPR Staff

Alexis Ohanian is co-founder of the popular social news site Reddit. His new book, Without Their Permission, tells the story of the site, from startup to Internet giant.

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Children's Author Takes On The Dreaded Itchy Head

11:11am October 05, 2013

A new book by award-winning illustrator and author David Shannon sheds light on an uncomfortable but universal problem — head lice. He talks to host Scott Simon about Bugs in My Hair.

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Thank You for Your Service, by Brian Finkel

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'Thank You For Your Service' Follows America's Soldiers Home

2:58pm October 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

Journalist David Finkel embedded with the 2-16 Infantry Battalion during the troop surge in Iraq, then recorded their stories in his first book, The Good Soldiers. Now, his new book chronicles the struggles of those who made it home, from their recurring nightmares and suicidal thoughts to the challenges of getting help.

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American-born British poet and playwright T.S. Eliot received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.

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Arts

On Eliot's 125th, His 'Waste Land' Hasn't Lost Its Glamour

9:55am October 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

This year marks the 125th birthday of Nobel Prize-winning poet T.S. Eliot. To celebrate, a re-issue of the first edition of his seminal poem has just been published, with an introduction by New Yorker poetry editor Paul Muldoon. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Muldoon about the poem's lasting influence.

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