Books

Many of Elmore Leonard's stories have been adapted for the screen, from the movie Get Shorty to the TV show, Justified.

Books

Remembering Elmore Leonard, A Writer Who Hated Literature

11:39am August 24, 2013

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon remembers Elmore Leonard as a writer who found "putting pretty clothes on hard, direct words" contemptible, and loathed what's typically known as literature. Leonard wrote more than 40 novels over his long career.

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A group of nurses at a Red Cross Hospital during World War I.

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Arts

Sisterly Conflict Against A Great War Backdrop In 'Daughters Of Mars'

11:39am August 24, 2013

by NPR Staff

Thomas Keneally's new novel, The Daughters of Mars, follows two Australian sisters who become nurses during World War I. Naomi and Sally Durance share a guilty secret, but they don't share any sisterly closeness — until the horrors of war begin to bind them together.

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Martin Freeman (from left), Paddy Considine, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Eddie Marsan star as five old high school friends who reunite to finish an epic pub crawl in The World's End, directed by Edgar Wright.

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Arts

An Epic Pub Crawl Gone Wrong Culminates In 'World's End'

4:33pm August 22, 2013

Five old high school friends reunite to finish a pub crawl they started 20 years earlier in the latest from Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright — the creators of the zombie send-up Shaun of the Dead and action comedy Hot Fuzz.

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Dunbar High School has a notable list of graduates, including the first black presidential Cabinet member, the first black general in the Army and several of the lawyers who argued the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

In Nation's First Black Public High School, A Blueprint For Reform

2:26pm August 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

Journalist Alison Stewart chronicles the history of Dunbar High School in her new book, First Class. She says the Washington, D.C., school — which has graduated Army generals, Cabinet members and musicians — can serve as a model for urban schools today.

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Ben Winters wrote the best-selling Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters, as well as Bedbugs, Android Karenina and several books for kids. So far, he's published two books in the Last Policeman series.

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Arts

Awaiting The Apocalypse In The Quiet Town Of Concord

12:43pm August 22, 2013

by Neda Ulaby

Ben Winters' mystery novels are set in the capital of New Hampshire, a community hardly known for its crime or intrigue. The twist? In his books, the planet is about to be hit by an asteroid, and everyone knows they're soon going to die. Amid the chaos, one Concord cop fights for law and order.

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Arts

'Dressing Constitutionally': When Fashion And Laws Collide

10:19am August 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

Ruthann Robson's new book explores the issues around what we wear and how it's legislated, including everything from First Amendment questions to government concerns about public nudity.

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Juan Gabriel Vasquez is also the author of The Informers.

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Arts

'Things Falling' Is A Potboiler, But One That's Set To Simmer

6:38pm August 21, 2013

by Rosecrans Baldwin

The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez takes readers on a journey through Colombia starting in the late '60s — but it's not your average detective story. Reviewer Rosecrans Baldwin says the real mysteries in the book are in the minds of the characters.

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Books

Crime Novelist Elmore Leonard Dies At 87

12:03pm August 21, 2013

by Lynn Neary

Elmore Leonard was a prolific writer, and was often referred to as the "Dickens of Detroit." The legendary crime writer published 46 novels, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight. Several of his novels were made into popular movie and TV adaptations.

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Books
Arts

Elmore Leonard, The 'Dickens Of Detroit,' Dies At 87

5:22pm August 20, 2013

by Noah Adams

Legendary crime writer Elmore Leonard published 46 novels, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight. His works were adapted countless times for film and TV. Noah Adams remembers the man whose advice to other writers was "try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."

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Nate Anderson is a senior editor at Ars Technica. His work has also been published in The Economist and Foreign Policy.

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Arts

Wild, Wild Web: Policing An Early, Lawless Internet

2:36pm August 20, 2013

There was a time when many thought the Internet was beyond government regulation, its very chaos a source of creativity and strength. Nate Anderson's The Internet Police looks at how law enforcement went about changing that.

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