In Tom Perrotta?s new novel, a successful writer named Jimmy Perrini is invited to return to his hometown in suburban New Jersey. The invitation takes him back to a difficult summer when he was in eighth grade and had just lost his mother to cancer. Ghost Town revisits that 1970s summer, one colored by strip malls, troublemakers, the Vietnam War, an Ouija board, and racial tensions in Perrini?s white, working-class town. In today?s episode, Perrotta speaks with Here & Now?s Robin Young about the bygone era of his own childhood.

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The Rolling Stones and Soundgarden are two of the most influential bands in the history of rock ? and two new books tell their stories. The Rolling Stones by Bob Spitz is a history of the band, but also of drugs, women and feuds. In today?s episode, the author gives Here & Now?s Indira Lakshmanan a behind-the-scenes look at songs like ?(I Can?t Get No) Satisfaction? and ?Gimme Shelter.? Then, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil joins Morning Edition?s A Martínez for a conversation about A Screaming Life, which tells the story of the band from its roots in Seattle?s grunge scene.

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Laverne Cox became a breakout TV star at 40 with a starring role in Orange Is the New Black. Since then, she?s become an advocate and role model for trans people, which she says means ?invit[ing] people to see trans people as human beings.? In today?s episode, Cox joins All Things Considered?s Ailsa Chang for a conversation about her new memoir Transcendent. They discuss Cox?s childhood in Alabama, how reading Walden provided her with important language and what it was like to find creative success later in life.

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Author Tessa Yang describes her The Jellyfish Problem protagonist as an "introverted, know-it-all dork." In the novel, Jo, a marine biologist, gets a call from her unrequited college crush, Nadia, who has a request. Nadia lives on a remote island, where they?re having a problem with a giant creature. Can Jo help? In today?s episode, Yang speaks with NPR?s Elissa Nadworny about similarities between Jo and the story?s central monster ? and whether this book makes a good beach read.

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Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut believes there is a ?spiritual rot? festering in the country ? and he wants the left and right to come together to resolve it. His new book Crisis of the Common Good argues the United States worships profit over people. In it, he takes aim at corporations, billionaires and super PACs. In today?s episode, he speaks with Morning Edition?s Leila Fadel about addressing financial inequality in the United States and what Democrats can learn from Donald Trump about messaging.

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Novelist Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Circle) has a new novel out: Contrapposto. It?s a decade-spanning romance of sorts, between two devoted creatives whose careers in the art world bring them together and tear them apart ? repeatedly. As Cricket and Olympia navigate their relationship, the age-old question remains: what is art, really? In today?s episode, Eggers joins NPR?s Ailsa Chang to discuss Contrapposto, the inspiration behind the book, and how Eggers himself approaches the ?meaning? of art. 

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In the new novel They All Fall in Love at the End, polyamory is the topic at hand ? primarily what it offers the protagonist and how she navigates a world where open relationships are not the norm. The End of Romance tells a story quite the opposite: A woman becomes opposed to romance altogether after leaving an abusive marriage. Today?s episode features conversations with the authors of both books. First, Haili Blassingame discusses They All Fall in Love at the End with NPR?s Juana Summers. Then, Lily Meyer joins NPR?s Elissa Nadworny for a conversation about The End of Romance and its exploration of the ?anti-romance? plot.

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How does a nationwide revolution affect the individual lives of its citizens? In the midst of the latest conflict in Iran, journalists Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati set out to answer this question by charting Iran?s history since its 1979 revolution. The product is Stolen Revolution, a collection of accounts from six Iranians ? each with their own perspective on Iran and its past, present, and future. In today?s episode, Torbati joins NPR?s Mary Louise Kelly to discuss the book, and how joy survives in the shadow of statewide oppression.

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In 2022, journalist Carlos Barragán moved to Lagos, Nigeria to investigate a cybercrime network of text-based internet phishing, also known as ?sweetheart scams." He found that a small band of young men known as the ?Yahoo Boys? were creating fake avatars to lure American victims into online romances ? a 21st-century iteration of the Yahoo email scams from the 1990s. Barragán, who wrote about his discoveries in The Yahoo Boys, joined NPR?s Eyder Peralta to discuss the new book, and why these cybercriminals are not actually ?masterminds of the universe playing with your minds.? 

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R.F. Kuang?s fantasy novel Katabasis, first published in 2025, is out in paperback. The book is about two rival doctoral students studying magic at Cambridge University. Together, they travel to hell to rescue their recently deceased thesis advisor. Last year, Kuang joined NPR?s Emiko Tamagawa for a conversation about the novel at a live event in Boston. They spoke about Kuang?s rigorous approach to the study of magic, how the author sees herself (and her husband) in Katabasis? protagonists, and the myth of the male genius in academia.

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A few years ago, Theo Baker ? then a student at Stanford University ? joined the school newspaper and broke a story that forced the university president to resign. Marc Tessier-Lavigne, he uncovered, had overseen several labs in which researchers had falsified results. His new book How to Rule the World documents power and corruption at Stanford, colored by mansion parties, slush funds, and tech executives in competition to be the first to invest in young talent. In today?s episode, Baker speaks with NPR?s Steve Inskeep about his reporting.

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Novelist Ann Patchett has written about things as wild as hostage takeovers, fairy tales, and betrayed magicians? assistants. But her new novel Whistler turns down the stakes to focus on the quieter complexities of human relationships. Today?s episode features two conversations between Ann Patchett and NPR?s Mary Louise Kelly. First, Patchett talks about Whistler and how it embraces the act of aging among past and present loved ones. Then, we revisit Patchett?s 2023 reflection on Tom Lake, a novel born from her serendipitous visits to the Michigan fruit farms she calls ?a world like no other.?

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Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray have just published new historical fiction. Their novel A Pair of Aces is about two women in 1930s New York who face down the mob and try to take down the infamous gangster Lucky Luciano. One of the protagonists is Eunice Carter, based on the real first Black female prosecutor in New York. In today?s episode, the co-authors talk with NPR?s Ayesha Rascoe about how they approached their third collaboration.

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At the start of the Cuban Revolution, Adela Ferrer?s husband made an impossible decision. Her husband had fled Havana for New York, and she planned to take her two children and join him. But instead, she was forced to bring only her daughter, leaving her 9-year-old son behind. That daughter ? Ada Ferrer ? is out with a new memoir called Keeper of My Kin. In today?s episode, she speaks with NPR?s Adrian Florido about the weight of family separation in Cuba and the difficulty of being ?the chosen one.?

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What happened to those who remained in Ireland after the Great Famine of 1865? It?s a question that fascinated Maggie O?Farrell, author of Hamnet, as she began her newest novel Land. Drawing on fragments of Irish history from her great-great-grandfather, O?Farrell?s Land is about? land, but it?s also about the myths, stories, and spirits that persist across generations. In today?s episode, O?Farrell joins NPR?s Scott Simon for a conversation about Land, and why ? despite geographic and societal upheaval ? she believes that ?human hearts and human minds change that much at all.?

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The first and only 2024 Biden-Trump presidential debate was not a night easily forgotten. Joe Biden?s stumbling performance and Kamala Harris? resulting candidacy changed history ? but questions remain. In former first lady Jill Biden?s new memoir View From the East Wing, she tries to answer them. Did President Biden have a medical episode on stage? Did the Biden campaign project false hope towards voters afterwards? In today?s episode, Jill Biden joins NPR?s Scott Detrow to discuss her husband?s presidency, legacy, and what readers can take away from her unique vantage point.

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Today on the show: Fictional and nonfictional takes on extraterrestrial life. Steven Rowley?s new novel Take Me With You is about a man whose husband is abducted by aliens. The author says the premise stemmed from one he often discusses with his own husband: If you had the chance to be taken by aliens, would you go? In today?s episode, Rowley speaks with NPR?s Ayesha Rascoe about the novel?s ?willing hitchhiker.? Then, Neil deGrasse Tyson talks with NPR?s Scott Simon about his new book,Take Me to Your Leader, which is a practical guide to ? and exploration of ? alien encounters.

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Sportswriter Joe Posnanski and TV writer Michael Schur say their new book is for everyone who has risked their emotional health over a sports team. Big Fan took the co-authors across the United States and beyond as they investigated fans of football, chess, Taylor Swift and more. In today?s episode, they tell NPR?s Scott Simon about how a video from the Worlds Dart Championship led them on their international tour of deep fandom.

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In his debut novel, the civil rights attorney Ben Crump imagines a horrific crime that feels all too real. In Worse Than a Lie, a Black ex-police officer is shot 10 times by white officers in Chicago. The book?s hero Attorney Beau Lee Cooper must find out what actually happened in order to seek justice. In today?s episode, Crump joins NPR?s Ayesha Rascoe for a conversation about writing a ?legal thriller wrapped in Black culture.?

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Acclaimed author Sara Novi? lost her hearing at age 12. Since then, she?s learned ASL, written the best-selling novel True Biz, mothered two children, and even discovered a knack for playing the piano ? something she feels, rather than hears. Novi??s new memoir, Mother Tongue, follows her journey from teenagehood through motherhood as she grapples with a tough but fascinating question: What is a primary language? In today?s episode, Novi? joins NPR?s Elissa Nadworny to discuss the book, how being deaf shapes the world around her, and her own approach to cultivating a multilingual household.

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Martha Raddatz has reported on the U.S. military for more than 30 years. Now she?s out with a new book: The Hero Next Door: Stories of Patriotism and Purpose. It?s a collection of veterans? stories from her years covering war on the frontlines and from the Pentagon. It?s important, Raddatz tells NPR?s Steve Inskeep, ?to know the people who are over there performing these duties for us.? In today?s episode, Raddatz joins Inskeep to discuss the decades of tough and bloody reporting that culminated in the book, and why she believes in telling veterans? stories both during and after war.


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Writing is hard. So is writing about writing. And, sometimes, reading about writing. But today, we have two books that attempt to break down the literary creative process into manageable pieces. Three Six Five is author Lucy Ives? collection of individual writing prompts for each day of the year. She sits down with NPR?s Scott Simon to discuss the book, along with why she believes ?the best time to write is when you think that you don?t want to.? Then, celebrated children?s book author Mac Barnett joins NPR?s Elissa Nadworny to discuss Make Believe, his meditation for adults about writing books for kids.


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In 1839, conjoined twins and famous showmen Chang and Eng Bunker ? native to Thailand, then called Siam ? took a break from touring, settled in North Carolina, bought a slave plantation, and married two American sisters. The interracial union caused a public scandal for more reasons than one, and their story is the inspiration for Christina Baker Kline?s novel The Foursome. In today?s episode, Baker Kline, who is a distant cousin of the twins? wives, speaks with NPR?s Ayesha Rascoe about exploring the complexity of the foursome?s place in a society that both feared and fetishized them. 


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Cherry Baby is a novel of perceptions. Cherry thought life couldn?t get worse when her ex-husband turned her into a caricature for his popular comic strip ? curves, double-chin and all. But then the comic gets a film adaptation, and another problem appears: Every Hollywood actress who could have played the Cherry-inspired character is now too thin, thanks to weight-loss drugs. In today?s episode, author Rainbow Rowell joins Here and Now?s Deborah Becker to discuss the GLP-1 industry?s societal impact, and how Cherry?s relationship with her body changes when she?s forced into the spotlight.


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The history of Jewish revolutionary groups is fraught with complexity, violence and surprise ? as author Molly Crabapple discovered when she traveled across eastern Europe to dig through the archives of her ancestors. Her journey is the subject of her new book, Here Where We Live Is Our Country. In it, Crabapple reveals the largely-forgotten history of the Jewish Labor Bund: a secular, anti-Zionist, and socialist political party founded in the late 1800s. In today?s episode, Crabapple joins NPR?s Leila Fadel to discuss the book, and why the Bund remains so controversial to this day.  


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A Perfect Hand has all the ingredients of a charming Victorian romance novel: a scheming matchmaker plot, an upstairs-downstairs dynamic, and a hefty dose of petticoats. But author Ayelet Waldman also explores what lies beneath the shiny historical romanticism. When protagonist and lady's maid Alice partners with an attractive valet to set up their wealthy employers, she discovers there could be more to life than servitude or marriage. But can she make it happen? In today?s episode, Waldman joins NPR?s Elissa Nadworny for a conversation about A Perfect Hand, and its unexpected political edge.

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In Ilona Bannister?s Five, five strangers wait on a train platform. One will die in the next five minutes but only one person knows: the reader. In Anthony Horowitz?s A Deadly Episode, his real 2018 novel The Word is Murder becomes a fictional film adaptation with one problem: the actor playing the protagonist is dead. Today?s episode features conversations on metafiction with both authors. First, Bannister talks to NPR?s Ayesha Rascoe about writing a novel with a five-minute timespan. Then, Horowitz talks to NPR?s Scott Simon about poking fun at true crime ? with a novel about true crime.


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Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw is a foundational legal scholar, theorist, and Civil Rights advocate, known for coining such significant and controversial terms as intersectionality and Critical Race Theory. But what ? or who ? inspired her work? Crenshaw examines just this in her new memoir Backtalker, which delves into her past, and the legal cases that shined light on complex and underresearched structures of inequity. In today?s episode, Crenshaw joins NPR?s Michel Martin for a conversation about Backtalker and why, as she says, ?forward momentum has always been met by retrenchment.?

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Becks is a queer teenager in the 1980s struggling to find a sense of belonging. When she picks up an unfinished coding project left behind by her beloved late uncle, she isn?t quite prepared for her efforts to ripple centuries into the future. Told in the years 1983, 2090, and 2586, Portia Elan?s novel Homebound weaves Becks? story with that of future humans who experience similar struggles in a vastly different landscape. In today?s episode, Elan speaks with NPR?s Scott Detrow about her debut novel, and the timelessness of searching for a place ? or a feeling ? to call home. 


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What does it truly mean to be a ?prodigy?? For the poet, professor and author of The People Can Fly Joshua Bennett, the answer is complicated. But maybe telling stories can help. In The People Can Fly, Bennett explores the lives and legacies of Black prodigies throughout history ? including himself ? by blending memoir, folklore and history into one book. In today?s episode, Bennett joins NPR?s Michel Martin to discuss how fatherhood and brotherhood expanded his notions of intelligence, and how The People Can Fly is both a reflection of the past and a hope for the future. 

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Time is running out for 17-year-old Jay Gardiner: He?s trapped underwater in the body of a sperm whale with just one hour of oxygen left. This not-so-typical situation is the premise for Whalefall, the 2023 thriller from Daniel Kraus. Kraus won a 2026 Pulitzer for Angel Down, his genre-bender told in a single sentence. But Whalefall experiments with structure through its chapters, their shrinking length mimicking Jay?s frantic gasps for air. In today?s episode, we revisit Kraus? conversation with NPR?s Ayesha Rascoe, where they discuss Whalefall and how its meaning expands beyond the aquatic.


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Today?s episode spotlights two new books all about running. The Long Run is a history of the marathon by author and running coach Martin Dugard. He spoke with NPR?s A Martínez about why so many people aspire to run 26.2 miles, from the history of the marathon in ancient Athens to the 1970s running boom. Then, Mary Cain was a child running prodigy. But she faced physical and emotional abuse at the Nike Oregon Project. She talked to NPR?s Juana Summers about her memoir This Is Not About Running, leaving professional running, and her relationship with the sport today.

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It?s been 30 years since Philip Pullman?s The Golden Compass arrived on U.S. shores. The award-winning British fantasy classic tells the story of Lyra, a precocious and rebellious pre-adolescent girl who is abandoned to be raised as an orphan at Oxford University. Lyra?s world is populated by animal companions known as demons, a religious organization called the Magisterium and a mysterious substance called dust. Pullman?s novel spawned two trilogies, a movie, and a TV series. In today?s episode, the author speaks with Here & Now?s Indira Lakshmanan about how he developed the idea for Lyra, demons and Dust.

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For Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon, their bond of mutual understanding evolved from a place of tremendous pain. Both men saw members of their family killed by the other side before, or during, the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, prompting them to trek through the Holy Land to explore the contentious landscape ? together. In today?s episode, Abu Sarah and Inon join Here & Now?s Indira Lakshmanan for a conversation about their co-authored book The Future is Peace, and why they view tourism as a crucial building block towards establishing lasting peace in the region.

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In a new mystery novel, a group of struggling writers lands on a private island belonging to bestselling author Arthur Fletch. But Fletch is dead and the authors, who come from a number of genres, must race to come up with the best ending to his unfinished manuscript. Then, the competition turns deadly. The Ending Writes Itself is by V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke, who wrote the novel under the pen name Evelyn Clarke. In today?s episode, the co-authors and friends join NPR?s Scott Simon for a conversation about their collaboration.

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We meet the unnamed narrator of Mark Helprin's new novel Elegy In Blue when he?s 82-years-old. He was a man of wealth and standing but has wound up alone in a subsidized studio apartment in Brooklyn. Through war and violence, he?s lost his father, his son, and his wife. Now, the narrator says, ?his allegiance is to ghosts.? In today?s episode, Helprin joins NPR?s Scott Simon for a conversation about the autobiographical nature of Elegy in Blue. They discuss how Helprin?s wife inspired a central character in the novel and why the narrator ? and Helprin ? chose to stay in New York.

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Journalist Jodi Kantor and Harvard happiness expert Arthur Brooks are both out with new books about identifying and cultivating meaning in one?s life. Brooks says he wanted to write The Meaning of Your Life after observing an explosion in depression and anxiety among young people beginning around 2008. In today?s episode, he chats with Here & Now?s Indira Lakshmanan about how neglecting right-brain activity has led us astray. Then, Kantor tells NPR?s Mary Louise Kelly about the daunting commencement speech invitation that led to her book How to Start, which focuses on cultivating one?s life work through ideas like ?craft? and ?need.?

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Lena Dunham shot the pilot for the HBO series Girls at age 24. Quickly, she was launched into the creative spotlight but the author says she was not prepared for ?everything that came with it.? In her new memoir Famesick, Dunham recounts the ?Wild West? of the 2010s, which included her rapid creative education, chronic health issues, and intense bonds with her Girls co-stars. In today?s episode, she tells Wild Card?s Rachel Martin about being welcomed into, and stung by, the cultural conversation of this time period and her creative partnership with castmate Adam Driver.

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In Julia Langbein?s new novel, a woman named Jean is in turmoil over her past. She has rediscovered a diary from 1998, when she was 17-years-old, and spots a judgemental comment about Monica Lewinsky. Now 45 and remembering her own mistakes, Jean calls out to Lewinsky ? and her prayers are answered. In today?s episode, Langbein joins NPR?s Elissa Nadworny for a discussion about Dear Monica Lewinsky that touches on adolescent desire, medieval iconography, and collective error and forgiveness.

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During the second week of the Covid lockdown, Belle Burden?s husband ended their 20-year marriage and became ?someone [she] did not recognize.? Their divorce and the affair that prompted it came as a shock to Burden, who says she had been happily married, enjoying ?cozy? time with their family in Martha?s Vineyard. She recounts her story in Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, which is now in its ninth printing and will be developed into a Netflix film starring Gwyneth Paltrow. In today?s episode, Burden speaks with NPR?s Juana Summers about the details of her divorce, the memoir?s smash success, and the importance of financial literacy for women, even those in happy relationships.

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James Wolff is the pseudonym of a former British intelligence officer who now writes espionage novels. His latest, Spies and Other Gods, follows the Head of British Intelligence at the tail end of a long and successful career who feels that his mental acuity is beginning to slip away. In the midst of this brain fog, Sir William Rentoul must join forces with intelligence teams across Europe to track down an anonymous assassin. In today?s episode, Wolff joins NPR?s Mary Louise Kelly for a conversation about the personal cost of spying and Wolff?s cast of Iranian characters.

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Two new novels center vital, but unusual connections across age. In The Take, an aspiring writer named Maggie agrees to an outlandish deal with Ingrid, an established Hollywood producer. Author Kelly Yang spoke with NPR?s Ailsa Chang about the medical procedure at the center of the novel, which accelerates Maggie?s aging while reversing Ingrid?s. Then, The Left and the Lucky tells the story of an 8-year-old boy and a man in his 40s who bond one night over a quesadilla. Author and musician Willy Vlautin told NPR?s Scott Simon about his commitment to stories with working-class characters.

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Wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East are reshaping global politics. In The Dark Side of the Earth, exiled Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar traces the origins of these conflicts to the end of the Cold War. The book is a history of Russia as seen from Moscow during different moments in the Soviet Empire. In today?s episode, the author talks with NPR?s Nick Spicer about how the Soviet Union?s 1991 collapse was only a temporary win for democracy ? and why this theme might resonate with American readers today.

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Natalie Heller Mills is a tradwife influencer with 5 million followers. She drinks raw milk, eats farm fresh eggs, and is ?perfect at being alive.? But when she wakes up in 1855, the very time period she?s fetishized, she feels afraid ? and paranoid that she?s being filmed. In today?s episode, Caro Claire Burke joins NPR?s Ayesha Rascoe for a conversation about the author?s debut novel, Yesteryear. They discuss Natalie as an anti-hero, Burke?s interest in power hierarchies over religion, and how the author pushed the tradwife trend to ?its final conclusion.?

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Demis Hassabis says when he set up an AI lab in 2010, ?no one believed in it.? The Google DeepMind co-founder and Nobel Prize winner is the subject of Infinity Machine, a new biography by Sebastian Mallaby. The book is a portrait of Hassabis, who Mallaby characterizes as a rare competitor across both science and business. In today?s episode, Mallaby speaks with NPR?s Steve Inskeep about Hassabis? origins as a young chess player, his Einstein-level ambition, and parallels between Hassabis and Robert Oppenheimer.

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In Maria Semple?s new novel, Adora Hazzard works as a moral trainer to the tweens of a wealthy family on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She?s a content, divorced stoic philosopher in her late 50s with a coven of likeminded, middle-aged female friends. But one night at the ballet, she falls into conversation with a stranger and gets seduced by a world of secrecy, black-market art, and international intrigue. In today?s episode, Semple joins NPR?s Scott Simon for a conversation about Go Gentle, stoicism, and ?getting the party started? in her 50s.

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This week, we're celebrating National Poetry Month by revisiting some of our favorite conversations with poets. In 2024, then U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón edited and introduced You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, a collection of poems by writers like Joy Harjo and Jericho Brown that pays homage to landscapes across the United States. In today's episode, Limón joins NPR's Rachel Martin on Wild Card. They discuss pivotal moments in Limón's life marked by natural scenery ? and go beyond that into conversations about grandparents, memory and mortality.

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This week, we're celebrating National Poetry Month by revisiting some of our favorite conversations with poets. In 2020, Kwame Alexander was feeling the weight of being Black in America and didn't know how to make sense of his feelings. So, he made sense of them through his book of poetry, Light For The World To See: A Thousand Words On Race And Hope. It's three poems on three historic events: the murder of George Floyd, Colin Kaepernick's protests, and Barack Obama being elected president. Alexander told NPR's Rachel Martin he wrote this as a call for Black people to remember their humanity.

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This week, we're celebrating National Poetry Month by revisiting some of our favorite conversations with poets. When Raymond Antrobus was 6 years old, he learned he was deaf. His memoir The Quiet Ear describes living in a world of in-betweenness, straddling intersections of race, class, hearing and deafness. In today?s episode, Antrobus joins NPR?s Mary Louise Kelly for a discussion that touches on his connection with the creative deaf community in London, his dad?s DJ sets, and differences between British and American Sign Language.

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This week, we're celebrating National Poetry Month by revisiting some of our favorite conversations with poets. Joy Harjo, who was the U.S. poet laureate from 2019 to 2022, says she has always been drawn to healing ever since she was little. She even studied pre-med in college. But it wasn't until Harjo heard Native poets that she realized "this is a powerful tool of understanding and affirmation." She shares her poetry and story in the book, Poet Warrior.

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