Books

A clerk shows a customer an AR-15 style rifle at a gun show in Costa Mesa, Calif. in June 2021. Gun sales increased in the U.S, following COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Former gun industry insider explains why he left to fight for the other side

1:20pm November 22, 2021

by Dave Davies

Gunfight author Ryan Busse was once a rising star in the gun industry. But he became disillusioned after Columbine when, he says, the NRA began to use "fear and conspiracy and hatred" to boost sales.

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The Sinner and the Saint, by Kevin Birmingham

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Arts

'The Sinner and the Saint' masterfully unpacks a Dostoevsky classic

10:45am November 22, 2021

by Maureen Corrigan

Kevin Birmingham's deeply researched biography details the radical political fervor that almost destroyed Dostoevsky's life — and the real-life murder that inspired Crime and Punishment.

Books

Author interview: 'The Deeper the Roots'

5:09pm November 21, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Michael Tubbs about his memoir, The Deeper the Roots.

Books

A teenage girl finds an ally on her life journey when 'A Snake Falls to Earth'

8:02am November 21, 2021

"A Snake Falls to Earth" is a fantasy book set against a backdrop of climate change and rooted in Lipan Apache storytelling. Leila Fadel talks to Darcie Little Badger, the book's author.

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Books

'Harsh Times' novel explores CIA-backed coup to overthrow Guatemala's government

9:56am November 20, 2021

Scott Simon speaks to author Mario Vargas Llosa about his new novel, "Harsh Times." It's set in the 1950s, around the events of the CIA-backed coup to overthrow Guatemala's government.

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Books

Huda Fahmy asks 'Huda F Are You?' in new book

8:52am November 20, 2021

Scott Simon speaks to author Huda Fahmy about her new book, "Huda F Are You?"

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Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) visits a remote village in search of something — or someone — in Amazon's The Wheel of Time.

Books
Arts

Amazon reinvents 'The Wheel of Time' for the small screen, with surprising turns

7:00am November 20, 2021

by Glen Weldon

This long-awaited adaptation of Robert Jordan's sprawling fantasy epic feels scaled-down for home viewing, but compelling characters and nice twists keep things rolling along.

The Rio Grande is seen from the International Bridge near a section of the U.S.-Mexico border where a father and daughter drowned attempting to cross into the United States in 2019, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Oscar Alberto Martinez and his 23-month-old dau

Books
Arts

Poetry inspired by a viral photo of drowned migrants wins the National Book Award

4:41pm November 18, 2021

by Bill Chappell

Photos of a father and his young daughter, drowned in the Rio Grande, underlined the deadly risks of the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Martín Espada drew on them for his book Floaters.

Books

Author Tamara Payne helped to finish her late father's biography of Malcolm X

8:15am November 18, 2021

Tamara Payne, award-winning co-author of The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, speaks with NPR's A Martinez about the exoneration of two men convicted in the murder of Malcolm X.

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Books

Jason Mott is among the winners of the 2021 National Book Awards

5:45am November 18, 2021

by Neda Ulaby

Comedian Phoebe Robinson hosted the 2021 National Book Awards ceremony over Zoom Wednesday night. Jason Mott won the fiction prize for Hell of a book. Tiya Miles was the winner for nonfiction.

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