Books

New biography, 'The Hag,' examines the life of country music icon Merle Haggard

6:10am January 19, 2022

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Haggard's biographer Marc Eliot about his book: The Hag. Haggard spent his early years going from family tragedy to odd jobs to broken marriages to petty crime to prison.

Queue Listen Now

In 2007, Vogue magazine editor at large André Leon Talley attends a post-Fashion Week panel discussion on the lack of Black images in the current fashion output in New York. Talley, the towering former creative director and editor at large of Vogue magaz

Influential fashion journalist André Leon Talley dies at 73

1:17am January 19, 2022

by The Associated Press

André Leon Talley, the towering former creative director and editor at large of Vogue magazine, has died. He was a regular in the front row of fashion shows in New York and Europe.

Young people have been on the front lines of activist movements, including on the issue of climate change.

A new look at how turmoil is defining the lives and politics of Generation Z

5:01pm January 18, 2022

by Juana Summers

In a new book, Fight: How Gen Z is channeling their fear and passion to save America, pollster John Della Volpe explores how America's youngest voters and activists are coming of age.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'What Is Otherwise Infinite' asks for granular honesty in our search for meaning

6:16am January 18, 2022

by Jeevika Verma

In her fourth collection, poet Bianca Stone unites vulnerability and humor to tackle the heavy question of what it means to be alive.

Queue Listen Now

Manifesto: On Never Giving Up, by Bernardine Evaristo

Books
Arts

'Manifesto' is a story of dreams made real by never giving up

5:29am January 18, 2022

by Hope Wabuke

One of the foremost writers of the age, Bernardine Evaristo unwinds her career and life — giving us a nonfiction bildungsroman that is a towering monument to the creative life of Black women.

Laura Coates teaches law at George Washington University Law School and is a senior analyst for CNN. She also hosts The Laura Coates Show, on radio SiriusXM's Urban View.

Books
Arts

Attorney Laura Coates has witnessed the dissolution of voting rights first hand

7:00am January 17, 2022

by Terry Gross

While working for the Department of Justice, Coates says she saw voter rolls being purged and instances where polling places were moved to known Klan locations. Her new memoir is Just Pursuit.

Books

'The End Of Burnout' and the changing nature of how we work

4:55pm January 15, 2022

NPR's Michel Martin talks with Jonathan Malesic, author of The End Of Burnout, about the changing nature of work since the start of the pandemic.

Books
Arts

'To Paradise' is an inspired and vivid puzzle that doesn't quite come together

12:00pm January 15, 2022

by Maureen Corrigan

Hanya Yanagihara's much anticipated 700-page novel is a deliberately difficult work, made of up dazzling moments that tend lose their luster when pressed together.

Books

Carl Bernstein's new memoir honors the 'glorious chaos' of the newsroom

11:15am January 15, 2022

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks to Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame about his memoir, "Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom."

Queue Listen Now

Books

In Elizabeth George's new book, Thomas Lynley delves into the London underworld

11:15am January 15, 2022

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks to author Elizabeth George about her new mystery, "Something to Hide."

Queue Listen Now