Books

Books

Maud Newton couldn't ignore her family's racist history. So she published it

4:41pm March 29, 2022

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Maud Newton about her book Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation, a memoir that explores her family history of racist violence.

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Books

Brace yourself for 'Young Mungo,' a nuanced heartbreaker of a novel

1:17pm March 29, 2022

by Maureen Corrigan

Scottish author Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize for his debut novel, Shuggie Bain, in 2020. His latest work is a suspense story wrapped around a novel of acute psychological observation.

Stone Age brain surgery? It might have been more survivable than you think

12:39pm March 29, 2022

by Dave Davies

Medical historian Ira Rutkow points to physical evidence that suggests Stone Age people conducted — and survived — brain surgery. His new book is Empire of the Scalpel.

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Arts

In 'Ancestor Trouble,' Maud Newton wrestles with her family history

11:35am March 29, 2022

by Kristen Martin

Maud Newton spent decades researching genealogic records, genetic science, and the cultural history of "ancestor hunger"; her book is also a coming-to-terms with how to face and honor family history.

Books

'The Vortex' details a cyclone that divided Pakistan and almost led to a nuclear war

5:10am March 29, 2022

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks to author Scott Carney about the new book he coauthored called: The Vortex, which is about a 1970 storm that sparked a revolution.

Books

The problem with the book category: Asian fantasy

5:10am March 29, 2022

by Kalyani Saxena

Asian fantasy novels have been growing in popularity over the past few years but is that really the right term for this subgenre? (Story originally aired on All Things Considered on May 30, 2021.)

Books
Arts

A sleeper-agent-pageant-queen exacts revenge — and finds herself — in 'Monarch'

7:48am March 28, 2022

by Kristen Martin

Poet Candice Wuehle's irresistibly weird debut novel Monarch is the kind of book that you want to start reading again immediately after turning the last page.

Books

A new book argues the U.S. South shapes the nation's political and cultural landscape

9:09am March 26, 2022

by Debbie Elliott

NPR's Debbie Elliott talks to Cynthia Tucker and Frye Galliard about their new book, "Southernization of America: a Story of Democracy in the Balance."

Remembering Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as secretary of state

1:49pm March 25, 2022

by Terry Gross

Appointed by President Clinton in 1997, Albright advocated for the expansion of NATO into the former Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe. She died March 23. Originally broadcast in 2003 and 2018.

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Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wipes away tears during her confirmation as Sen. Cory Booker quotes Langston Hughes in support of her.

The history behind the Langston Hughes poem used in the Ketanji Brown Jackson hearing

1:09pm March 24, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

Sen. Cory Booker quoted the lines to support Supreme Court nominee Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearing. Hughes' poem is a searing look at race and class in America.