Books

Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond, edited by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall

Books
Arts

Sci-Fi Has Changed A Lot In The Past Decade — These 7 Reads Will Show You How

7:00am August 16, 2021

by Jason Sheehan

This year's Summer Poll is all about the past decade in science fiction and fantasy, so we asked critic Jason Sheehan to come up with his own list of the new sci-fi that's blowing his mind.

Books

'Paradise' Explores A Previous Record Breaking Wildfire Season

10:15am August 14, 2021

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Lizzie Johnson about her new book, Paradise, which examines the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed the northern California town of Paradise.

Books
Arts

Kaveh Akbar Pits The Self Against The Sacred In His New Poems

5:00am August 14, 2021

by Jeevika Verma

Words can seem infinite — but language has limits. In his new poetry collection, Pilgrim Bell, Kaveh Akbar shapes language into prayer, into body, into patchwork — but only into what can be known.

Books

If A Russian Doll Looked Into A Black Mirror ... You'd Have This Novel

4:00am August 14, 2021

by Bethanne Patrick

In Sarah Zachrich Jeng's debut thriller The Other Me, a young woman wanders away from a boring birthday party and finds herself in a different life, with a husband and family she didn't have before.

Books

In 'Mrs. March,' A Judgmental, High Society Woman Is Gaslit To The Brink Of Madness

6:33pm August 13, 2021

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Virginia Feito, the author of the new novel Mrs. March, a story about a woman with a tidy, respectable life on the Upper East Side which is thrown into disarray.

Dolly Parton Teams With James Patterson To Write Novel

7:09am August 13, 2021

Parton's first novel, Run, Rose Run is a thriller and will have a companion album to go along with it.

White Malice: The CIA and the Covert Recolonization of Africa, by Susan Williams

CIA Role In Africa Expanded As U.S. Cold War Worries Grew, 'White Malice' Details

3:56pm August 12, 2021

by Lily Meyer

Though Susan Williams' book is framed far too expansively, it overflows with fascinating information, research and bold ideas — especially regarding Congo's first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba.

'The Lorax' Warned Us 50 Years Ago, But We Didn't Listen

9:36am August 12, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

Call it fate or an unfortunate coincidence that Dr. Seuss' eco-parable marks its 50th anniversary just as the United Nations releases a report on the dire consequences of human-induced climate change.

Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century, by Tim Higgins

Tale Of Tesla, Elon Musk Is Inherently Dramatic And Compellingly Told In 'Power Play'

9:24am August 12, 2021

by Camila Domonoske

Perhaps most interesting in Tim Higgins' book are the hints at what might have been: Tesla could have built a plug-in hybrid, or sold itself to Google, or become a battery supplier.

Books
Arts

Inspired By 'The Decameron,' These Poems Are A Modern Pandemic Time Capsule

7:12am August 12, 2021

by Jeevika Verma

If you, like many people, are getting through the dragging months of the pandemic by being Very Online, you'll find poet Leigh Stein's new book is a perfect encapsulation of that experience.