Books

Books
Arts

In 'City Of Girls,' The Breezy, Bold Best Days Of Our Lives

7:00am June 05, 2019

by Jean Zimmerman

Elizabeth Gilbert's new novel is set in the New York theater community of the 1940s — an effervescent golden age for the women who congregate at the offbeat Lily Playhouse.

R. Kelly leaves the Leighton Courthouse in Chicago, Ill., on May 7, 2019, following a hearing in relation to the sex abuse allegations made against him.

Reporter Who Broke R. Kelly Story: Abuse Was In 'Full View Of The World'

6:00am June 05, 2019

by Terry Gross

Jim DeRogatis recounts his 19-year investigation into the singer in a new book, Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly. "It all happened as everybody watched and nobody did anything," he says.

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Cover of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

Books
Arts

An Immigrant Yearns For Connection In 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous'

2:45pm June 04, 2019

by Maureen Corrigan

Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong's words are mighty, teasing and overpowering in his autobiographical novel, written as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother.

Books
Arts

'Patsy' Discovers Her Dreams Don't Match Reality

10:02am June 04, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Nicole Dennis-Benn packs a lot of uncomfortable truths into this novel about a Jamaican woman who emigrates to New York looking for an old love and a new life, leaving her mother and daughter behind.

Singer R. Kelly, arriving in Cook County court for a hearing on sexual abuse charges in May.

In 'Soulless,' A Journalist Takes On R. Kelly And The Business That Made Him A Star

8:07am June 04, 2019

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

For nearly two decades, Jim DeRogatis has been searching for justice on behalf of the women who have accused the R&B singer of sexual and physical abuse. His new book is an account of those years.

Fall, or Dodge in Hell, by Neal Stephenson

Books
Arts

Sometimes Fascinating, Sometimes Excruciating, 'Fall' Hums With Energy

7:00am June 04, 2019

by Jason Sheehan

Neal Stephenson's massive new novel mashes up characters readers will recognize from several previous reads, and sends them on a ride that's by turns maddening, overstuffed and revolutionary.

Underland: A Deep Time Journey, by Robert Macfarlane

'Underland' Connects Us To Dazzling Worlds Beneath Our Feet

3:16pm June 03, 2019

by Barbara J. King

The beauty of Robert Macfarlane's writing, and of the natural world it describes, is immense. His words also act as a warning, ensuring a recognition of human harms to the environment.

Books

'Fate Of Food' Asks: What's For Dinner In A Hotter, Drier, More Crowded World?

1:26pm June 03, 2019

by Terry Gross

Environmental journalist Amanda Little says the sustainable food revolution will include meat cultured in a lab, 3-D printer food, aquaculture and indoor vertical farming.

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Books

Risen's 'The Crowded Hour' Examines Roosevelt's Rough Riders In War

6:24am June 03, 2019

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to author Clay Risen about his latest book: The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century.

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Author Michael Wolff at the NPR offices, June 2, 2019. Wolff's latest book claims special counsel Robert Mueller's office drew up an indictment of President Trump, a claim that's denied by the special counsel's office.

Michael Wolff Defends His Reporting Of New Trump Tell-All

7:36pm June 02, 2019

by Tamara Keith

The author of the forthcoming book "Siege: Trump Under Fire," defended an explosive claim that had already been called into doubt before the book's publication.