Afleveringen
-
In light of the latest conflict between India and Pakistan, today's episode focuses on two books that examine India's ancient and recent history. First, ancient India was home to the exchange of goods and ideas that transformed the world, including the number system, heliocentrism, and Buddhism. In his book The Golden Road, historian William Dalrymple makes the case for India's centrality to the story of human civilization. In today's episode, the author speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about why this history isn't a larger part of our popular imagination. Then, we hear from Zara Chowdhary about The Lucky Ones, her first-person account of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat. In today's episode, she speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the aftermath of the Godhra train burning, Prime Minister Modi's role in the incident, and the dangers of releasing her book in this political moment.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
James Gandolfini starred in The Sopranos for six seasons. The show, which ended in 2007, was considered an instant classic and permanently linked Gandolfini to his character, Tony Soprano. Gandolfini died in 2013, but a new biography tells the story of his life. In Gandolfini, Jason Bailey portrays the actor as an unlikely star who struggled after The Sopranos to grow as an artist. In today's episode, the author joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation about Gandolfini's path to HBO stardom, a famous pay negotiation, and the actor's struggle with personal demons.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
As a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Kevin Fagan embedded with the city's unhoused population. Now retired, he's written a book built around two of the people he got to know through his reporting. The Lost and the Found zooms in on the lives of Rita and Tyson, who ended up chronically homeless in San Francisco through a cascade of circumstances. In today's episode, Fagan speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about their stories, Fagan's own experience with poverty and housing insecurity, and the Reagan-era policies that led to an increased unhoused population in the 1980s.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Julie Chan has an average life working as a cashier at a grocery store. But she's constantly getting mistaken for a famous influencer, her estranged identical twin Chloe. One day, Julie receives a mysterious phone call that results in her decision to swap lives with her sister, adopting Chloe's followers and the glamorous lifestyle that comes with them. That's the setup of Liann Zhang's debut novel, Julie Chan Is Dead. In today's episode, Zhang talks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about the author's own experience as a teenage "skinfluencer" – and Zhang's views on influencer culture today.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
While crafting her latest novel, Isabel Allende says she wanted to tell the story of the Chilean Civil War of 1891 from the perspective of a neutral party. She decided to make her protagonist a female writer who uses a male pen name and convinces an editor to hire her as a war correspondent. In today's episode, Allende joins Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes to talk about My Name is Emilia Del Valle. They discuss the feminist spirit throughout the author's body of work, their shared interest in pushing back against dominant narratives, and Fernandes' personal relationship to Allende's work.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
In their new novels, authors Lori Gold and Austin Kelley draw from personal experiences in the publishing and magazine industries. First, Gold's Romantic Friction follows Sofie Wilde, a popular fantasy romance author and self-proclaimed outcast. At a book event, she finds out about a new author who's billed herself as "the next Sofie Wilde" – and is using AI to write books pulled directly from Sofie's. In today's episode, Gold speaks with Here & Now's Tiziana Dearing about the author's feelings about AI's role in publishing, the rabid fandom of romance readers, and books that go viral. Then, we hear from Kelley about his new novel The Fact Checker, in which a fact checker ends up on a quest for a missing source. In today's episode, Kelley joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation about the book and the author's time as a fact checker with The New Yorker.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Mary Ziegler is a law professor at UC Davis and a leading scholar on the abortion debate. In her new book Personhood, she argues that the anti-abortion movement's ultimate goal is fetal personhood, which would give fetuses and embryos the rights of people under the Constitution. Ziegler's book makes the case that the history of this movement is crucial to our understanding of where the abortion fight is headed next. In today's episode, Ziegler talks with Here & Now's Tiziana Dearing about the legal meaning of fetal personhood, the way conservatives might reimagine constitutional equality, and whether this debate amounts to a new Civil War.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
In the new novel Fair Play, Abigail is hosting a murder mystery party at an Irish country house on New Year's Eve. She's also in deep mourning for her brother. The story's opening reads as a typical setup for a crime novel. But Irish author Louise Hegarty's debut novel honors the golden age of detective fiction while simultaneously turning the genre on its head. In today's episode, Hegarty joins NPR's Ayesha Rascoe for a conversation that touches on Fair Play's meta elements, as well as its atypical relationship to grief.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Parenting young children can be extremely taxing, but also beautiful – and hilarious. That nuance is at the core of Loryn Brantz's new poetry collection, Poems of Parenting. The illustrated poems are based on Brantz's popular series of Instagram posts that give parents permission to laugh. In today's episode, the artist and author shares a selection of poems with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes. They also discuss Brantz's creative pivot from children to adults, the phrase "mom brain" and Brantz's relationship to her own children.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Tina Knowles intended to write a behind-the-scenes look at her career in the music business. But she says that when she began writing, her own story flowed onto the page instead. In her new memoir Matriarch, the entrepreneur and mother of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Solange Knowles shares the story of how she helped her daughters become cultural icons. In today's episode, Tina Knowles speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about fighting to allow her girls to express their style, a memorable moment on set with the singer Maxwell, and Knowles' relationship with her ex-husband.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Two new cookbooks take different approaches – one modern and one more traditional – to Korean cuisine. First, Roy Choi is the co-founder of Los Angeles' Kogi BBQ food trucks, which put Korean-Mexican fusion on the map. He rose to fame cooking meat, but his first full cookbook The Choi of Cooking focuses on vegetables. In today's episode, Choi speaks – and cooks – with NPR's Ailsa Chang. Over breakfast burritos, they discuss the chef's quest to elevate vegetables and break what Choi calls an addiction to junk food. Then, Sarah Ahn became social-media-famous for posting videos of her mother's traditional Korean recipes. Now, the two women are out with Umma, a cookbook that focuses on preserving identity through recipes. In today's episode, Ahn speaks with Here & Now's Lisa Mullins about collaborating with her mom, the cultural history of kimchi, and the difference between Korean and Southern fried chicken.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Jennifer Haigh's latest novel Rabbit Moon opens with a hit and run accident in pre-dawn Shanghai. The victim is a 22-year-old American woman named Lindsey. Her parents immediately fly into Shanghai while Lindsey's sister awaits news from a New England summer camp – and the accident scars an already-fractured family. In today's episode, Haigh speaks with Here & Now's Scott Tong about their impressions of Shanghai, her interest in turning the idea of studying abroad on its head, and how she approached the topic of international adoption.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
For more than 20 years, Lucian Kim covered Russia and Ukraine as a journalist. Now, the former NPR reporter is out with a new book that aims to explain the confluence of personal and geopolitical motivations that led to Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin's Revenge identifies key moments in the decades leading up to the invasion, including the 2004 Orange Revolution, George W. Bush's support of NATO membership for Ukraine, and Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea. In today's episode, Kim talks with Here & Now's Robin Young about several turning points in the conflict, the evolution of Putin's position towards the West and Ukraine, and why Kim was initially drawn to cover Russia as a story of a collapsed empire.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
In a Manhattan restaurant, the narrator of Audition meets a young man for lunch. Everyone has a different understanding of the pair's relationship, including the narrator herself. Katie Kitamura says she got the idea for the story after coming across a headline that said, "a stranger told me he was my son." That headline turned into the premise for her latest novel, which experiments with the idea of contradictions to destabilizing effect. In today's episode, Kitamura joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation about her decision to cut the book in half. They also discuss other media that's split into two parts – like the films Vertigo and Shoplifters – and Shapiro shares his interpretation of the novel.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Known for books like Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry is the patron saint of millennial romance. But for her latest novel, the author says she wanted to challenge herself in a new way. Great Big Beautiful Life is a story within a story about two journalists who are competing to write the biography of a fictional media heiress. There's romance at the center of the novel, but the story also follows a century-long family drama. In today's episode, Henry speaks with NPR's Miles Parks about braiding these two plots together, her interest in mother-daughter relationships, and grief as the flipside of love.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Zadie Smith's White Teeth marked its 25th anniversary in January. The now canonical novel tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a shy Englishman named Archie Jones and his friend Samad Iqbal, a devout Bengali Muslim. Both men are trying to pass on their religious and moral beliefs to their children. In today's episode, we revisit a conversation between Smith and NPR's Liane Hansen that aired shortly after White Teeth's release. Then, we'll hear some of Smith's conversation last month on NPR's Wild Card with Rachel Martin in which Smith reflects on the novel's anniversary. The two discuss the author's distance from the person she was when she wrote White Teeth and the novel's place among the canon of books for teenagers.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
When Nikki travels to visit her grandmother in western North Carolina, she expects answers about her family's history. But instead, she uncovers her connection to the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a community of formerly enslaved people. Dolen Perkins-Valdez's new novel Happy Land follows Nikki as she delves deeper into family secrets. The author says she was inspired by the true story of an autonomous Black community that once lived in the mountains of Appalachia. In today's episode, Perkins-Valdez joins NPR's Michel Martin for a conversation about how the author first heard of this little-known chapter in North Carolina history.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Three years ago, trans content creator and actor Dylan Mulvaney posted a video on TikTok documenting her first day of girlhood. Though she didn't expect to turn the post into a series, Mulvaney says the videos became a way to track both her journey and her experience of trans joy. Now, she's out with a memoir called Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer, which continues to document her transition, as well as her rise to social media stardom. In today's episode, Mulvaney speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about religion, earnestness, and the fallout of a controversial partnership with Bud Light.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Pope Francis died Monday, leaving behind a legacy as "Pope of the People" and a change agent within the Catholic Church. Austen Ivereigh's The Great Reformer was published just a year into Pope Francis's papacy. But already, the biography argues, the pope had solidified his position as a radical reformer, both in his approach to hot-button issues and his interactions with regular people. In today's episode, we revisit a conversation between Ivereigh and NPR's Eric Westervelt. They discuss Pope Francis's upbringing in Argentina, his approach as an evangelizer, and the way his positions were at times misjudged by certain Catholics and the media.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Journalist Clay Risen is out with a new narrative history of the Red Scare, based in part on newly declassified sources. In Red Scare, Risen depicts McCarthyism as a cultural witch hunt against all kinds of people, not just potential communist spies. And he argues that the Red Scare was part of a broader cultural backlash against New Deal progressivism and an increasing sense of cosmopolitanism in the United States. In today's episode, Risen joins NPR's Steve Inskeep for a conversation about Senator Joseph McCarthy's personal and political opportunism, the enduring power of conspiracy theories, and how the Constitution did – and didn't – stand up to protect American civil liberties.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy - Laat meer zien
