Books

Daniel Woodrell's novel Winter's Bone -- a dark family saga set in the Ozarks — was adapted into a film in 2010. Woodrell returned to his hometown of West Plains, Mo., about 20 years ago and has been writing there ever since.

Books
Arts

'Winter's Bone' Author Revisits A Tragedy In His Ozarks Hometown

6:42pm September 05, 2013

by Lynn Neary

For nearly a century, Daniel Woodrell's hometown of West Plains, Mo., has been haunted by a dance-hall explosion that killed dozens of the town's young people in 1928. Woodrell explores the disaster — and his Ozarks roots — in his new novel The Maid's Version.

Queue Listen Now

Books

Tina Brown: Women Are Terrifyingly Vulnerable In Many Places

3:48pm September 05, 2013

For our regular feature "Word of Mouth," Renee Montagne talks with Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast and founder of the annual Women in the World summit. She has three must-reads on women whose lives were changed by kidnapping and captivity.

Queue Listen Now

The main character of Alice McDermott's Someone grew up in 1920s and '30s New York.

Books
Arts

From McDermott, An Extraordinary Story Of An Ordinary 'Someone'

3:27pm September 04, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Alice McDermott's characters can often be described as average, and Marie, the heroine of her latest novel, is no exception. But critic Maureen Corrigan says the power of McDermott's writing is that she can make even Marie's run-of-the-mill life one for the record books.

Queue Listen Now

Zelda Sayre and F. Scott Fitzgerald pose for a photo at the Sayre home in Montgomery, Ala., in 1919, the year before they married.

Books
Arts

For F. Scott And Zelda Fitzgerald, A Dark Chapter In Asheville, N.C.

3:30pm September 03, 2013

by Susan Stamberg

The Golden 1920s couple didn't fare as well in the 1930s, and the North Carolina mountain town was host to a particularly sad time. NPR's Susan Stamberg discovered a little-known story of the Jazz Age darlings and their devastating connections to Asheville.

Queue Listen Now

American composer Irving Berlin sings his song "God Bless America" in front of Boy Scouts troop members and spectators gathered at a tent in Monticello, New York in 1940. Instead of collecting royalties from "God Bless America," Berlin created a fund that

From Peace To Patriotism: The Shifting Identity Of 'God Bless America'

10:47am September 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

In the new book God Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song, author Sheryl Kaskowitz explores the lyrical evolution of Irving Berlin's enduring song and explains how its early popularity reflected the anxiety of the pre-war period and sparked a surprising anti-Semitic and xenophobic backlash.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Shacochis Spans Generations In 'The Woman Who Lost Her Soul'

10:06am September 01, 2013

by NPR Staff

In his new book, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, Bob Shacochis returns to Haiti, but also takes the reader across continents and generations. The 700-page book has been compared to the work of Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene and Norman Mailer.

Queue Listen Now

Barry Nalebuff (left) and Seth Goldman cofounded Honest Tea in 1997. Goldman is the company's TeaEO. Nalebuff is a professor at Yale School of Management.

Honest Tea Founders Tell Their Story Of Not-Too-Sweet Success

9:51am August 30, 2013

by NPR Staff

Back in the 1990s, Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff were tired of the super sweet iced teas available in stores. So they started their own company to cater to "more sophisticated, grown-up tastes." They chronicle their adventures and misadventures in a graphic novel called Mission In A Bottle.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Seamus Heaney, Irish Poet And Nobel Laureate, Dies At 74

9:51am August 30, 2013

Irish poet Seamus Heaney has died in Dublin at the age of 74. He was one of the world's best-known poets. In 1995 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'Bummers, Blisters And Boondoggles': A Jokester Joins The Army

2:59pm August 27, 2013

by NPR Staff

Humorist and late-night radio voice Jean Shepherd spent time in the U.S. Army during World War II. He never made it overseas, but the stories he mined from that experience have now been collected in a new volume, Shep's Army.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

'The Blessing Cup': Polacco And Her Family Of Storytellers

11:17am August 25, 2013

by NPR Staff

Patricia Polacco has written and illustrated more than 90 picture books, and she says her early life had a profound effect on her work. In her latest children's book, The Blessing Cup, Polacco takes readers back to her grandparents' time in Russia.

Queue Listen Now