Modern Medicine May Not Be Doing Your Microbiome Any Favors
In Missing Microbes, Dr. Martin Blaser argues that the overuse of antibiotics, as well as now-common practices like C-sections, may be messing with gut microbes.
Books
NSA Coverage Garners Pulitzers For Post And Guardian
Winners of the 2014 Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday. The Washington Post and The Guardian were among the notable winners, commended for together breaking the news of NSA surveillance programs.
Jackie Collins' Mob Princess Serves Up A Cookbook You Can't Refuse
Collins' The Lucky Santangelo Cookbook is named for her plucky heroine, the daughter of a former gangster. It's got recipes for linguine and the author's eponymous cocktail — but no health food.
A Sheep Killer Is On The Loose In 'All the Birds, Singing'
All The Birds, Singing is the second novel by Australian-British author Evie Wyld. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Wyld about her sinister story revolving around the life of Jake, a sheep farmer.
Poisoned Cigars And A Painful Chapter In Our History
This week saw celebrations of the anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and revelation of the ZunZuneo scandal. Paul Reyes and Ralph Eubanks recommend The Cultural Cold War and We Are Not Afraid.
After A Disaster In 'Family Life,' Relief Never Comes
Akhil Sharma took over a decade to write his novel, Family Life, a mostly autobiographical account of an immigrant family and an accident that shatters their dreams for the future.
A Nonbeliever Tries To Make Sense Of The Visions She Had As A Teen
Barbara Ehrenreich — a rationalist, atheist and scientist by training — has written a new memoir called Living With a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything.
If Jesus Never Called Himself God, How Did He Become One?
In How Jesus Became God, Bart Ehrman explores how a Jewish preacher from Galilee was transformed into a deity. "Jesus himself didn't call himself God and didn't consider himself God," Ehrman says.
Peter Matthiessen On Writing And Zen Buddhism
Fresh Air listens back to our 1989 interview with Snow Leopard author and Paris Review co-founder Peter Matthiessen, who died Saturday at age 86. His new novel In Paradise comes out Tuesday.
'In Paradise,' Matthiessen Considers Our Capacity For Cruelty
At 86, Matthiessen has written what he says "may be his last word." In Paradise, a novel about a visit to a Nazi extermination camp, caps a career spanning six decades and 33 books.