Author Interviews

Books
Arts

'Bummers, Blisters And Boondoggles': A Jokester Joins The Army

2:59pm August 27, 2013

by NPR Staff

Humorist and late-night radio voice Jean Shepherd spent time in the U.S. Army during World War II. He never made it overseas, but the stories he mined from that experience have now been collected in a new volume, Shep's Army.

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Books
Arts

'The Blessing Cup': Polacco And Her Family Of Storytellers

11:17am August 25, 2013

by NPR Staff

Patricia Polacco has written and illustrated more than 90 picture books, and she says her early life had a profound effect on her work. In her latest children's book, The Blessing Cup, Polacco takes readers back to her grandparents' time in Russia.

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A group of nurses at a Red Cross Hospital during World War I.

Books
Arts

Sisterly Conflict Against A Great War Backdrop In 'Daughters Of Mars'

11:39am August 24, 2013

by NPR Staff

Thomas Keneally's new novel, The Daughters of Mars, follows two Australian sisters who become nurses during World War I. Naomi and Sally Durance share a guilty secret, but they don't share any sisterly closeness — until the horrors of war begin to bind them together.

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Dunbar High School has a notable list of graduates, including the first black presidential Cabinet member, the first black general in the Army and several of the lawyers who argued the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

In Nation's First Black Public High School, A Blueprint For Reform

2:26pm August 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

Journalist Alison Stewart chronicles the history of Dunbar High School in her new book, First Class. She says the Washington, D.C., school — which has graduated Army generals, Cabinet members and musicians — can serve as a model for urban schools today.

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Books
Arts

'Dressing Constitutionally': When Fashion And Laws Collide

10:19am August 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

Ruthann Robson's new book explores the issues around what we wear and how it's legislated, including everything from First Amendment questions to government concerns about public nudity.

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Nate Anderson is a senior editor at Ars Technica. His work has also been published in The Economist and Foreign Policy.

Books
Arts

Wild, Wild Web: Policing An Early, Lawless Internet

2:36pm August 20, 2013

There was a time when many thought the Internet was beyond government regulation, its very chaos a source of creativity and strength. Nate Anderson's The Internet Police looks at how law enforcement went about changing that.

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Books

'Southern League': Birmingham Barons Break Racial Divide

7:09am August 20, 2013

By 1964, Birmingham, Ala., gained infamy as the center of the civil rights struggle. In the midst of that tension, one of the city's major institutions broke through the racial divide. The Birmingham Barons minor league baseball club became the first integrated professional sports team in the state. David Greene talks to author Larry Colton, whose book, Southern League, traces how this milestone affected the city.

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Scott Anderson is a novelist and veteran war correspondent. His previous novels include Moonlight Hotel and The Man Who Tried to Save the World.

Books
Arts

'Lawrence' Of Arabia: From Archaeologist To War Hero

5:52pm August 19, 2013

by NPR Staff

T.E. Lawrence, the British officer who played a key role in the Middle East during World War I, served as one of that war's few romantic champions. Scott Anderson's Lawrence in Arabia explains how Lawrence used his knowledge of Arab culture and medieval history to advance British causes.

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A luxury home in an unfinished subdivision

Books
Arts

A Dystopian View Of America's 'Fallen' Suburbs

6:03pm August 18, 2013

by NPR Staff

Patrick Flanery's taut new novel, Fallen Land, delves into the housing crisis, creeping corporate surveillance and a "crisis of neighborliness" in American life. The backdrop: a half-built and crumbling subdivision outside of an unnamed American city.

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Mark Lee Gardner's has appeared on the History Channel, PBS' American Experience and BBC Radio.

Books
Arts

What Drove Wild West's Jesse James To Become An Outlaw?

5:57pm August 17, 2013

by NPR Staff

In Shot All To Hell, author Mark Lee Gardner explores the roots of James' life of crime following the Civil War.

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