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Out Of Lahiri's Muddy 'Lowland,' An Ambitious Story Soars

3:53pm October 07, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Jhumpa Lahiri's new novel, The Lowland, is on the long list for the National Book Award and the shortlist for the Man Booker. Critic Maureen Corrigan says Lahiri should start making room in her trophy cabinet; The Lowland is a beautiful tale of a family transformed by political violence.

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In 'Egghead,' A New Shel: Burnham Takes On Silverstein

12:16pm October 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

Bo Burnham got his start in comedy on the Internet rather than in clubs. He found fame on YouTube and parlayed millions of views into a thriving career. Now, he's turned to the printed page with Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone, a collection of comedic poetry modeled on Shel Silverstein.

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40 Years Ago, 'Fear Of Flying' Showed Women Like Sex, Too

9:31am October 07, 2013

by NPR Staff

Back in 1973, Erica Jong was tired of the silent, seething housewife, so she introduced a new kind of female protagonist: one who loved sex and wasn't ashamed to admit it. Jong joins NPR's Susan Stamberg to talk about hook-ups, Fifty Shades of Gray, and of course, the "zipless f - - - ."

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How Reddit Emerged From A Rejected (And Very Different) Idea

6:36pm October 05, 2013

by NPR Staff

Alexis Ohanian is co-founder of the popular social news site Reddit. His new book, Without Their Permission, tells the story of the site, from startup to Internet giant.

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Thank You for Your Service, by Brian Finkel

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'Thank You For Your Service' Follows America's Soldiers Home

2:58pm October 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

Journalist David Finkel embedded with the 2-16 Infantry Battalion during the troop surge in Iraq, then recorded their stories in his first book, The Good Soldiers. Now, his new book chronicles the struggles of those who made it home, from their recurring nightmares and suicidal thoughts to the challenges of getting help.

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American-born British poet and playwright T.S. Eliot received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.

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On Eliot's 125th, His 'Waste Land' Hasn't Lost Its Glamour

9:55am October 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

This year marks the 125th birthday of Nobel Prize-winning poet T.S. Eliot. To celebrate, a re-issue of the first edition of his seminal poem has just been published, with an introduction by New Yorker poetry editor Paul Muldoon. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Muldoon about the poem's lasting influence.

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Jamie Moyer, shown above pitching for the Colorado Rockies in May 2012, made his major league debut back in 1986. He says that after decades in the major leagues, he'd occasionally have to remind himself that "in baseball terms, I really was old, but in e

At 49, Jamie Moyer's Pitching Career Goes Into Extra Innings

12:57pm October 02, 2013

In a new memoir called Just Tell Me I Can't Moyer explains how he became a better pitcher in his 40s than his 20s. Moyer's story isn't just the tale of a talented guy who hung on a little longer than others; with the help of a sports psychologist, he managed to gain control of the mental side of his game.

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Chris Matthews Looks Back On A Time 'When Politics Worked'

2:49pm October 01, 2013

In his new book Tip and the Gipper, MSNBC's Hardball host Chris Matthews reflects on his time as a top aide to Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill during Ronald Reagan's presidency. He compares O'Neill and Reagan's unlikely friendship to today's approach of "government by tantrum."

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How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times

10:00am October 01, 2013

In The Story of the Human Body, evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman explains how our bodies haven't adapted to modern conditions. The result is "mismatch diseases" — ailments that occur because our bodies weren't designed for the environments in which we now live.

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How Two Brothers Waged A 'Secret World War' In The 1950s

6:30pm September 29, 2013

by NPR Staff

Sharing power in the Eisenhower administration, John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles were the forefathers of using covert operations to upset foreign governments. Journalist Stephen Kinzer, who wrote a book on the siblings, says Americans are still paying the price for them.

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