NPR's Book of the Day

Since leaving the White House more than two decades ago, Bill Clinton has remained a leader in the Democratic Party, but has mostly focused on philanthropy and public service. He has aimed to address the HIV/AIDS crisis globally and he worked to help free two American journalists incarcerated in North Korea. Clinton's new memoir, Citizen, takes stock of these post-presidential years – but also serves as a vehicle for the former president to address past controversies. In today's episode, Clinton joins NPR's Leila Fadel for a discussion that touches on how the Democratic Party should respond to this political moment, and how writing his new book has helped him let go of the past.

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When Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible was first published in 1988, it took the baking world by storm. It was the first cake book to list ingredients by weight instead of volume and also introduced the technique of reverse creaming. Now, 35 years later, Beranbaum has released a new version of The Cake Bible. The update includes altered recipes that keep pace with changes to ingredients and equipment over the past few decades, like taller cake pans and smaller egg yolks. In today's episode, Beranbaum speaks with Here & Now's Robin Young about the biggest mistakes for beginner bakers to look out for, the author's recent preference for simple design, and a chocolate cake named after Plácido Domingo.

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New books focused on Johnny Carson and Shirley MacLaine offer intimate portraits of two of television and Hollywood's biggest stars. Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Showfor 30 years, becoming an unparalleled nighttime staple and unifying force within American culture. His life is the subject of Carson the Magnificent, a new biography co-written by Bill Zehme and Mike Thomas, who took over the decades-long research project after Zehme died in 2023. In today's episode, Thomas joins NPR's Scott Simon to discuss the divisions between Carson's public and private personas. Then, Shirley MacLaine's personal photo walls feature pictures of dignitaries, starlets and leaders like the Obamas, the Dalai Lama, Dolly Parton, Stephen Hawking and others. In her new book, The Wall of Life, MacLaine uses her photo collection as a way to tell her life stories through a scrapbook format. In today's episode, she speaks with Here & Now's Robin Young about past lives, enduring friendships in Hollywood, and the balance between reality and fame.

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We live in a time where it can be difficult to maintain good relationships with people with opposing views. While writing her new book, Do You Still Talk to Grandma?,Brit Barron saw everyone around her struggling to hold this tension while connecting with the people they love. Her book is a guide to navigating those relationships with our loved ones – even when we disagree with them. In today's episode, she talks with NPR's Deepa Fernandes about binary thinking, the issue of social media, and our need to belong.

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Author Yvette Montoya didn't grow up playing Lotería, but she discovered the classic Latino party game in college. There, she fell in love with Lotería itself, but also the vibrant art and imagery of its boards and card decks. Now, Montoya has reinvented her own version of the bingo-like game with Mystical Lotería, a game set and book that give the traditional version a spiritual twist. In today's episode, Montoya talks with NPR's A Martínez about incorporating brujería–her witchcraft practice–into Mystical Lotería. They also discuss the resurgent interest in ancestral veneration within Latino culture, the need to move beyond Western healing modalities, and Día de Los Muertos.

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Parents of disabled children are responsible for navigating a number of complex systems, from educational services and accommodation to medical care. Author Kelley Coleman, whose son has an undiagnosed genetic syndrome, says that parenting a disabled child can be hard–but hard is not bad. That's the central framework of her book, Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child, which came out earlier this year. In today's episode, Coleman speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about their joyful and difficult parenting moments, how to access the support needed for kids to thrive, and teaching self-advocacy.

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Author Paula Hawkins is best known for her 2015 novel The Girl on the Train. Her new book, The Blue Hour, is also a thriller, this time set on a remote but idyllic Scottish island. The novel focuses on the death of artist Vanessa Chapman, who leaves behind her diaries and a piece of art that sets off a shocking discovery. The story that follows involves secrets, lies and murder. In today's episode, Hawkins speaks with Here & Now's Deborah Becker about how the ownership and interpretation of Vanessa's legacy is disputed among the book's other characters. They also discuss the complexity of long-term female friendships, how women are treated in the public eye and the unreliability of our own narratives.

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Two new nonfiction books blend research and memoir to explore ideas of family, language and culture. Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez's Tías and Primas draws on her experience being raised in a large Nicaraguan family, one that she describes as messier than the typical nuclear model. Her relationships with her mother, cousins, and aunts shaped her view of the world and the female archetypes that exist within Latin American culture. In today's episode, Rodríguez speaks with NPR's A Martínez about how nuance is lost in Latina stereotypes, the cultural significance of ghost encounters, and practicing critique from a place of love. Then, Julie Sedivy is a linguistics and psychology professor who started speaking five languages before first grade. Growing up in diverse linguistic environments inspired her memoir Linguaphile, which explores the relationship between language, emotion and life. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Eric Westervelt about the way linguistic divisions reflect our social reality and the surprising strengths of the aging brain.

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Since its publication in 1885, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been celebrated as one of the great American works of literature. But the novel has also been criticized for how Mark Twain stereotyped Black characters like Jim, the enslaved man who befriends Huck Finn. Now, author David Walker and illustrator Marcus Kwame Anderson have reimagined this story with Jim at its center. Their new graphic novel, Big Jim and the White Boy, is an action story filled with adventures, fight sequences and an acknowledgment of the danger of the world Jim operates within. In today's episode, Anderson and Walker join NPR's Scott Simon to discuss the novel, including what they did to turn Jim into a multidimensional character, their decision to keep the N-word in their retelling and whether Huck and Jim were ever really friends.

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Stanley Tucci of Searching for Italy and The Devil Wears Pradafame loves food—especially the comforting taste of home-cooked Italian cuisine. But in 2017, when Tucci was diagnosed with oral cancer, he temporarily lost his sense of taste. A year later, following treatment that included six months on a feeding tube, he became cancer-free. Since then, Tucci has thought and written a lot about death and his desire to freeze time. In today's episode, Tucci joins NPR's A Martinez to talk about what makes a great meal, how life revolves around food, and his new book What I Ate in One Year.

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Author Winsome Bingham was raised in a community that gathered together to vote. But as a kid, she didn't realize how important this practice was to her life. Illustrator E.B. Lewis had a different childhood experience with elections. His parents voted but would do so almost in secret. As a result, Lewis didn't become a voter until his late 20s. In their children's book, The Walk (A Stroll to the Poll), published in 2023, Bingham and Lewis hope to give kids insight into this democratic process. In the book, a child and her grandmother pick up friends and neighbors on their way to the polls, forming a civically-minded procession. In today's episode, NPR's Scott Simon introduces a conversation between the author and illustrator about how children learn by watching adults act and how voting can be a collective–rather than individual–experience.

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It's been 50 years since the publication of All the President's Men, but journalist Bob Woodward says he hasn't changed his approach to political reporting. His new book, War, aims to bring readers as close as possible to the rooms where globally consequential diplomacy takes place. War focuses on three major conflicts and has already made headlines, detailing new information about the continued relationship between former President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In today's episode, Woodward speaks with NPR's Scott Detrow about a high-stakes call between Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterparts about the potential use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Iran, and Woodward's observations on Vice President Harris' role in foreign diplomacy.

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Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, died in a Siberian prison this past February–and in his diary entries, Navalny wrote that he knew he might not make it out alive. Those diaries are part of Navalny's new memoir, Patriot, published posthumously with help from his widow, Yulia Navalnaya. The book details some of Navalny's darkest moments in his fight for a more democratic Russia, but also showcases the leader's characteristic humor. In today's episode, Navalnaya joins NPR's Ari Shapiro to talk about a pivotal conversation between the couple during a prison visit, the duality of her late husband's personality as a serious politician and an ordinary family man, and taking up the mantle of the Russian opposition movement after Navalny's death.

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Horror and scary stories are part of a long American tradition that dates back to the Salem witch trials. Columbia professor and cultural historian Jeremy Dauber traces this legacy in a new book, American Scary, from the fears of early English settlers to contemporary horror media like the films of Jordan Peele. The book draws surprising connections between the way collective fears are represented in seemingly disparate literature, like in the works of authors like Frederick Douglass and Edgar Allen Poe. In today's episode, Dauber speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about how some of our most monstrous figures have changed shape over the generations while staying rooted in core fears. Dauber also argues that what scares us–whether zombies, vampires, witches or our neighbors–is representative of the deepest anxieties of our time.

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Yotam Ottolenghi's books are a fixture on the shelves of many home cooks. In his latest cookbook, written with co-authors Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley, the Israeli-British chef and restaurateur turns his eye towards comfort food. Ottolenghi Comfort considers the rituals and recipes that produce comfort in our culinary experiences, like the simple acts of holding a bowl or making a one-pot meal. In today's episode, Ottolenghi speaks with Here & Now's Robin Young about the memories we carry with us, whether they're connected to a childhood dish or an Oasis song. They also discuss the chef's perfect equation for comfort food, which often involves cauliflower.

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Al Pacino's childhood was spent in a tough neighborhood in the South Bronx. But he grew up among a crew of wild kids who often found themselves on adventures rivaling those of Huckleberry Finn. Those childhood antics proved foundational for Pacino, who details these stories and more in a new memoir, Sonny Boy. In today's episode, Pacino speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about the experiences that ignited and fed his love of acting, like a performance of Chekhov's The Seagull that changed his life. They also discuss the influence of the actor's mother and grandfather on his upbringing and whether Pacino still feels like a nonconformist at 84 years old.

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Since the war in Gaza began, Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha says he has not lived a normal life. He lost 31 members of his extended family in an airstrike and now, he checks the list of casualties every day. Still, he has continued to write poetry. Abu Toha's new collection of poems, Forest of Noise, aims to document what he's witnessed and deliver the emotional experiences of Palestinians living in devastation and fear. In today's episode, Abu Toha speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about what the news fails to recognize about the war in Gaza and about the U.S. government's role in the conflict.

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Rebecca Yarros is the author of The Empyrean series, a wildly popular collection of "romantasy" novels. In a conversation with NPR's Emily Kwong at this year's National Book Festival, Yarros said she wanted to plot an enemies-to-lovers story when she began writing Fourth Wing, the first book in this series. In today's episode, Yarros talks about the genre tropes she tries to embrace and avoid in her writing. She also discusses working through a chronic illness, how history and politics shape her stories, and the influence of her husband's military experience on how she approaches themes of violence in her work.

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In two new children's books, characters discover worlds of adventure just outside their doorsteps. Trevor Noah's first picture book, Into the Uncut Grass, is about a young boy and his teddy bear who wander outside the boundaries of their home into unknown territory. The story, illustrated by Sabina Hahn, is about exploring the internal world of a child's imagination and bridging disagreements and differences. In today's episode, Noah speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about how children can begin to grasp the interior lives of their parents and how humor can be a way to process reality. Then, librarian and author Travis Jonker and illustrator Matthew Cordell join Rascoe for a conversation about their new book, The Ship in the Window. They said the book was inspired by a real-life model ship Jonker spotted at a neighbor's house. In the interview, Jonker and Cordell discuss other references for the book, including the work of author William Steig and the book's vintage-inspired color palette.

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Author and essayist Craig Brown is perhaps best known for his sketch comedy writing and satirical columns poking fun at the British government. But he's also a biographer, having written about subjects like Princess Margaret and The Beatles. Now, he's turned his attention to Queen Elizabeth II in a new biography, Q: A Voyage Around the Queen.In the book, Brown portrays the monarch as an anchor for the British public who penetrated the emotional psyche of a nation–even appearing in people's dreams. In today's episode, Brown joins NPR's Scott Simon to talk about what Queen Elizabeth II symbolized to people, what she would've done with her life had she not been royalty, and the unchanging nature of her character.

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Earlier this week, several legendary female artists–including Cher, Mary J. Blige and Big Mama Thornton–were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But despite this recognition, the history of women in popular music has always been marked by struggle. How Women Made Music, a new book from NPR Music and edited by Alison Fensterstock, centers and celebrates that radical history by compiling archival interviews, essays and images from the past 50 years. In today's episode, NPR's Ann Powers talks with NPR's Scott Detrow about the multi-platform project that inspired the book and how female artists have changed history by making revolutionary music–not just by telling their stories.

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Owen Han used to work in hospitals, but his life changed in 2020 when his father died. Motivated by his late father's encouragement to pursue his passions, Han started posting food content on TikTok. He shared recipes for dishes inspired by his Italian and Chinese heritage, like his grandmother's shrimp toast. Since then, Han has become known for his creative twists on classic sandwiches–and fittingly, sandwiches are the focus of his new cookbook, 'Stacked.' In today's episode, Han joins NPR's Scott Simon to talk about his expansive definition of a sandwich and how ASMR has inspired his approach to texture.

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Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz is a self-proclaimed data nerd. So, when she started work on a project on Native identity, she turned to the Census data. Quickly, she noticed that the number of people in the United States who identify as Native had skyrocketed over the last decade. That data made her curious about how communities–and the federal government–have historically defined Native identity. The result of that project is a new nonfiction book, The Indian Card, which combines research and interviews to tell stories about the relationship between identity and bureaucracy. In today's episode, Lowry Schuettpelz joins NPR's Scott Detrow to talk about the historical and personal impact of federal policies like the Indian Relocation Act, blood quantum and tribal enrollment.

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Ina Garten and Stephen Colbert share some big commonalities. They've both had long and successful careers in television, they're friends–and they love food. Garten has built her career around her persona as the Barefoot Contessa, with recipes that find the intersection between simple and interesting. And now, she's out with a memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens. Colbert also has a food-centered book, although his project is a cookbook co-authored with his wife, Evie McGee-Colbert. In today's episode, NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Garten about growing up in a home where food was strictly fuel and about the joy of solving complex problems. Later, Shapiro talks with the Colberts about the cuisine of the South Carolina Lowcountry and how they've finally learned to play sous-chef for each other 31 years into their marriage.

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Earlier this month, novelist and poet Jason Reynolds received a grant from the MacArthur Foundation for his work "depicting the rich inner lives of kids of color." The latest example of that work is Twenty-Four Seconds from Now..., Reynolds' new young adult novel. The book follows a young Black couple, Neon and Aria, high school seniors who face a potential split as one of them prepares to attend college. The novel explores the couple's decisions around love and intimacy as they navigate their relationship while receiving mixed advice from parents and friends. In today's episode, Reynolds speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about how rare it is for love stories to be narrated by Black boys and the complexity of young men's interior lives, especially around topics like body image and sex.

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NASA's Europa Clipper took off earlier this week, headed for Jupiter's fourth-largest moon. Etched on the outside of the spacecraft is a poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón called "In Praise of Mystery." Now, that poem, which celebrates human curiosity, has been adapted into a picture book by the same name, illustrated by Peter Sís. In today's episode, Limón speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelley about her collaboration with Sís and how to write a poem with staying power across time and space. Finally, Limón reads her poem out loud.

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When Malcolm Gladwell released The Tipping Point in 2000, the book became a huge bestseller–and Gladwell became a star. Nearly a quarter-century later, the journalist and podcaster revisits that work. Revenge of the Tipping Point employs Gladwell's familiar methods, using storytelling to examine the spread of negative social behavior by pharmaceutical companies, bank robbers and Medicare fraudsters. In today's episode, the author sits down with NPR's Steve Inskeep to discuss why Gladwell's view of society has darkened over time and what the author thinks of his harshest critics.

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South Korean author Han Kang is this year's recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature, making her the first Korean writer to win the award. In its citation, the Swedish Academy commended Han "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." Both of these themes are present in the author's 2007 novel, The Vegetarian, which tells the story of a young woman who decides to give up meat. In today's episode, we revisit a 2016 interview between Han and NPR's Linda Wertheimer, which took place around the time of The Vegetarian's publication in English. In the interview, they discussed gender politics, how women cope with trauma, and Han's "long-lasting question about human violence."

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Cindy Hohl, the current president of the American Library Association, says the political temperature surrounding book bans has remained at a boiling point. Over the last year of her tenure, Hohl has witnessed librarians exit the profession due to increased stress, ridicule and public pressure to remove certain titles from their libraries–particularly those related to race and LGBTQ+ identity. Although these battles are particularly pronounced in hot spots like Florida and Texas, they're being fought in communities all over the country. In today's episode, NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with Hohl about what librarians can and can't do to push back against this cycle of censorship and what it's like to lead through times of crisis.

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In 1995, a mostly pre-digital age, it was much easier to get lost–especially on a strange road in the middle of the night. This time period is the setting for Simone St. James' thriller Murder Road, which came out earlier this year. In the book, newlyweds are en route to a lakeside cabin in Michigan when they take a wrong turn and discover a hitchhiker needing help. That chance meeting lands the young couple at the center of a series of mysterious murders. In today's episode, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with St. James about weaving the supernatural into her fiction and the appeal of true crime.

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Stephen Bruno is a doorman for a high-end building on Manhattan's Park Avenue, where he's worked for 14 years. Bruno says that while he treats every occupant like his boss, he routinely blurs professional boundaries by forming close friendships with his residents. Now, those friendships–and the many other stories from Bruno's building–form the basis of his new memoir, Building Material. In today's episode, Bruno speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about taking notes on the job, breaking the "don't get close rule," and a documentary about August Wilson that saved his writing career.

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Jules Feiffer has been drawing and writing for a living since he was 17 years old. Now 95, the illustrator behind The Phantom Tollbooth is out with his first graphic novel for middle grade readers. That book, Amazing Grapes, kicks off with a father's departure, which sets in motion a series of adventures across dimensions for his three children. A two-headed swan serves as the master of ceremonies for the story. In today's episode, Feiffer speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about how play has become more central to the author's life as he's grown older and about his writing process, which involves a lot of scribbling.

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Stylist Law Roach grew up in Chicago watching his grandmother get ready for church. He said observing her process first exposed him to the art form of being a woman. Since then, Roach has become what he calls an "image architect," styling celebrity clients like Zendaya, Celine Dion and Anya Taylor-Joy. Roach's new book How to Build a Fashion Icon is both a memoir and a manual that adapts the stylist's fashion guidelines for a non-celebrity audience. In today's episode, Roach visits NPR West for a styling session and conversation with NPR's Ailsa Chang about reflecting power and confidence in one's external image.

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In today's episode, two new nonfiction books take on big themes: cynicism and freedom. In his new book, Hope for Cynics, Stanford psychology professor Jamil Zaki argues that cynicism is unhealthy not only for individuals, but also for communities and even entire nations. He speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about why Americans have grown more cynical over the last 50 years and how a close friend inspired Zaki to move towards "hopeful skepticism." Then, Yale historian Timothy Snyder joins NPR's Scott Simon from Ukraine to talk about how the American definition of freedom can be too narrow. They also discuss how Snyder's thinking on freedom has been shaped by his time in Ukraine.

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Richard Osman is the author of the popular Thursday Murder Club book series. But despite the success of that project, Osman said he wanted to spread his wings with a fresh palette and a new cast of characters. His new novel, We Solve Murders, follows a detective trio as they try to outsmart a supervillain. In today's episode, Osman talks with NPR's Scott Simon about how he originally set out to center the story around a crime-solving duo, not trio. They also discuss Osman's interest in writing about subjects like fame, those we might underestimate, and evil people who aren't evil all the time.

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Lyndsay Rush was never a big fan of poetry. But after discovering the world of internet poets through Instagram, she discovered that writing poetry could be attainable–and fun. Now, Rush is out with a new collection of poems, partially drawn from her popular Instagram account, @maryoliversdrunkcousin. In today's episode, Rush speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about the origins of the author's Instagram handle, Rush's reinterpretation of Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese," and the book's dedication to Michelle Pfeiffer.

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Ta-Nehisi Coates is no stranger to political writing–or controversy. But his new book, The Message, marks the author's return to nonfiction almost a decade after the publication of Between the World and Me. The new book of essays focuses on Coates' reporting in three central locations: the American South, Palestine and Africa. In today's episode, Coates speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about books bans and criticism of the author's position on the war in Gaza.

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In Richard Powers' new novel Playground, technology and the environment meet on the island of Makatea in French Polynesia. The book weaves stories together from across decades, but revolves around core themes like awe for the vastness of our oceans and the centrality of play in the story of human survival. In today's episode, Powers talks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about some of the many inspirations behind Playground, including games, a book on coral reefs gifted to him by his sister, and Silicon Valley's obsession with seasteading.

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Newbery Medalist Meg Medina remembers her childhood babysitter perfectly. Medina called her Señora Mimí–and now, the author is celebrating caregivers of all kinds in her new children's book. No More Señora Mimí, illustrated by Brittany Cicchese, tells the story of a little girl whose relationship with her babysitter changes after the girl's grandmother moves in. Then, NBA champion Jayson Tatum is also out with a new kids' book. Baby Dunks-a-Lot, co-authored by Sam Apple and illustrated by Parker-Nia Gordon, is about a baby basketball star. In today's episode, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe introduces a conversation between Medina and Cicchese about illustrating culturally specific references, like Cuban crackers, and representing subtle changes in a children's story. Then, Here & Now's Scott Tong chats with Tatum about the NBA player's relationship with his son and the upcoming Celtics season.

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It can be difficult to feel optimistic when faced with the existential threat of climate change. But a new book from marine biologist and writer Ayana Elizabeth Johnson asks us to imagine a different version of our climate future: one in which things work out. What If We Get It Right?is a collection of essays and interviews with environmental experts, farmers, advocates, architects, investors and others on what it would look like to "get it right" on climate change. In today's episode, Johnson speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about tailoring climate conversations for different audiences, moving from an extractive to a regenerative economy in this decade and the effort it will take to create a new future.

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The actress Gillian Anderson plays a sex therapist on Netflix's Sex Education. Now, in her off-screen life, Anderson has taken on a similar role: gathering the sexual fantasies of women from around the world. The result, Want, is an edited collection of anonymous submissions exploring women's intimate desires and the spectrum of female sexuality. In today's episode, Anderson speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about the 1970s book that inspired the project, how the changing media landscape has influenced how women think about sex and the difficulty of asking for what we really want.

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Novelist Don Winslow says City in Ruins is his last book. The third novel in the author's Danny Ryan trilogy completes the series, a contemporary crime epic that draws inspiration from Greek and Roman classics like The Aeneid. In today's episode, Winslow talks with NPR's Scott Simon about working on this trilogy over the course of 30 years and his kinship with the novels' protagonist. They also discuss Winslow's decision to retire, which he says is partially motivated by a desire to invest more energy into political activism.

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With songs like "Let Me Blow Ya Mind," "Satisfaction" and "Tambourine," Eve's music was a staple of early 2000s hip-hop. In her new memoir, Who's That Girl? Eve and co-author Kathy Iandoli detail the rocky path to the rapper's success. In today's episode, Eve speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about coming up in a male-dominated hip-hop industry. They discuss an early-career setback, female representation in hip-hop today and why Eve disagrees with being called a "kept woman."

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James McBride, the literary giant and author of books like The Color of Waterand Deacon King Kong, was awarded this year's Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In a conversation with NPR's Michel Martin at the National Book Festival, he said that leaving a career in journalism allowed him to find creative fulfillment in fiction. In today's episode, McBride discusses growing up in a community that relied on laughter, keeping a notebook on him at all times, and the inspiration behind his most recent novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.

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Election denialism and myths of voter fraud have long been part of the history of the United States. In their new book, Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote, Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau trace the contentious battle for democratic representation from the American Revolution to the present day–up to the 2024 election. In today's episode, Dyson and Favreau speak with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about lesser-known heroes in the struggle for voting rights, the political impact of non-voters and the legacy of recent events like the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

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In Rumaan Alam's new novel, Entitlement, Brooke, a former teacher, is given a rare opportunity. She takes a job with an 83-year-old billionaire and is tasked with helping him decide what to do with his fortune. But, as Brooke spends more time in proximity to such great wealth, the experience begins to distort her sense of priorities, ambitions and personal ethics. In today's episode, Alam speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the stratification of wealth, whether we're living through a new Gilded Age and the effect money has on us.

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Tennis legend Venus Williams has a lot on her plate. There's her tennis career, of course, but also business pursuits in fashion, interior design, nail art and more. As a result, Williams says it can be difficult for her to find balance. In her new book Strive, she details eight steps she follows in pursuit of this balance between her mental, physical and emotional health. In today's episode, Williams speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about learning from an early-career loss at the U.S. Open, resting more and living with an autoimmune disease.

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Rachel Kushner's new novel, Creation Lake, has all the makings of a great spy thriller: a cool and unknowable secret agent, a mysterious figure who communicates only by email and a radical commune of French eco-activists. Kushner has said that some of these elements were, in fact, inspired by real-world stories of espionage and her own access to the social and political worlds of activist communes. In today's episode, Kushner speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the murky boundaries of being an undercover agent–and a writer.

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New memoirs by former National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster and recovery advocate William Cope Moyers document conflicts of different kinds. In At War with Ourselves, McMaster contends with his years in the Trump administration and the political infighting he experienced at the White House. Moyers' Broken Open documents a more personal struggle with maintaining his sobriety 35 years into his recovery journey. In today's episode, McMaster talks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the three types of people he encountered at the White House–and what U.S. foreign policy would look like under a second Trump presidency. Later, Moyers speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about what happens when sobriety is jeopardized.

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Over 25 years ago, author Leslie Rasmussen connected with a stranger over challenges with their fertility. That friendship inspired her 2023 novel, The Stories We Cannot Tell, which follows two very different women who contend with excruciating decisions around their pregnancies. In today's episode, Rasmussen talks with NPR's Leila Fadel about her years-long fertility struggle, the difficulty of discussing the decision to terminate a pregnancy, and the political context surrounding her novel following the fall of Roe v. Wade.

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Edwidge Danticat is known for her novels and short stories. But her new book, We're Alone, is a collection of eight wide-ranging essays. These essays touch on intimate and historical topics: Danticat's past and present, the history of Haiti, parenting, migration and the author's connection to her literary heroes. In today's episode, Danticat speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about the complexity of nostalgia and the Haiti she remembers.

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Carole Hopson wanted to be a pilot since childhood, but it wasn't until her mid-30s that she learned about Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn her pilot's license in 1921. Coleman's story not only encouraged Hopson to pursue her own career as a commercial pilot, but it also inspired A Pair of Wings,Hopson's first novel. In today's episode, Hopson speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about Coleman's groundbreaking path and about Hopson's own experience as one of few women of color working as a pilot for a major airline. 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

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Jurassic Park creator Michael Crichton spent years working on a manuscript about a volcano on the verge of a disastrous eruption in Hawaii. After he died in 2008, his wife Sherri found his boxes and boxes of research and decided the novel needed to be finished – so she hit up James Patterson. In today's episode, she and Patterson speak with NPR's Ari Shapiro about how they got Eruption across the finish line more than a decade after her husband's death, and how they managed to pass off the pen throughout the course of the novel.

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Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson remembers her first brush with the national spotlight as "white hot." When President Biden nominated her in 2022 to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, it kicked off an intense confirmation process for Jackson, the first Black woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court. In her new book, Lovely One: A Memoir, Jackson charts her path from the segregated South to the country's highest court. In today's episode, Justice Jackson sits down with NPR's Juana Summers to discuss whether the Supreme Court should adopt a more binding ethics code, the court's ability to deliver a credible opinion on this year's election and her family life, including her daughter's autism diagnosis.

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Harriet Constable learned a lot about the real life of Anna Maria della Pietà — that she grew up in an orphanage, that she was a star violinist and a favored student of Antonio Vivaldi. But in her new novel, The Instrumentalist, Constable also merges fact with fiction to tell the story of Anna Maria's synesthesia and musical talents. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about Anna Maria's life, the challenges and excitement of the classical music world at the time, and what we make of Vivaldi today.

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Food is a source of nourishment, joy and autonomy for a lot of people – but in her new book, Ruin their Crops on the Ground, Andrea Freeman also tracks how the U.S. government has used food policy as a form of control and oppression. In today's episode, Freeman speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about how the book's title can be traced back to an order given by George Washington to destroy the food source of Indigenous nations, and how from slavery to Got Milk? campaigns to school lunches today, there's often a bigger political agenda behind nutrition education.


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Today's episode features two books that advocate for new approaches to big problems: urban planning, poverty, and dog rescue. First, Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with Carlos Moreno about The 15-Minute City, his proposal for interconnected communities where schools, grocery stores and offices are all a short walk or bike ride away from each other. Then, Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd speaks with Carol Mithers about Rethinking Rescue, which profiles Lori Weise, aka the Dog Lady, and examines her belief that animal welfare and efforts to help people going through economic instability should go hand in hand.

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Natwest, 23, is about to finally leave for university. But a package he's waiting for has gone missing and – fearing humiliation if its contents are found out – he spends 24 hours looking for it all over town. That's the premise of Nathan Newman's comic novel, How to Leave the House. In today's episode, Newman speaks with NPR's David Folkenflik about some of the odd neighborhood characters Natwest bumps into along the way, and how their own concerns and their perceptions of Natwest completely challenge the notion of who he thinks he is as the protagonist of his own story.

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What do hedge fund managers, poker players and the scientist behind the mRNA vaccine have in common? In his new book, On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything, Nate Silver argues that they all exist in what he calls "the River" – a community of like-minded power brokers taking quantitative risks. In today's episode, Silver speaks with Here & Now's Scott Tong about what differentiates "the River" from what he calls "the Village" – think journalists and professors – and how cancel culture plays a role in this societal structure.

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Elvira K. Gonzalez says there was a lot of beauty to growing up in the culturally rich border town of Laredo, Texas. But there were some challenges, too. Her new memoir, Hurdles in the Dark, chronicles some of the more difficult aspects of her adolescence — her mom was kidnapped, Gonzalez was sent to juvenile detention, and she was preyed upon by her hurdling coaches. In today's episode, the author speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the resilience and optimism she carried through all of that, and how it's gotten her to where she is today.

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From 1911 to 1912, Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka both lived in Prague. A new graphic novel by Ken Krimstein uses both history and artistic imagination to explore how the physicist and writer ran in the same social circles and how their work might have influenced each other. In today's episode, Krimstein speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about Einstein in Kafkalandand the brilliant academic and literary scene in Prague during that time period.

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Bram Stoker Award-winning author, Gabino Iglesias, knows what it's like for grief and anger to turn deadly. That's what he explores in his new novel, House of Bone and Rain, which follows six close friends who vow to avenge the murder of one of their own mothers as a hurricane approaches. In today's episode, Iglesias, who's a frequent book critic for NPR, speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about what it's like to be part of a brotherhood so deep, you consider each other to be "ride or die" friends – but why maybe there really shouldn't be any need for the latter.

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Courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg has worked on some of the biggest trials of the last 40 years, drawing the likes of Martha Stewart, Jeffrey Epstein, and most recently, Donald Trump. Her new memoir, Drawn Testimony, examines her unique role in the news cycle, where art and criminal justice collide. In today's episode, Rosenberg speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about how she got into this line of work, why mobsters are fun to draw and which high-profile defendant asked her to add more hair to his portrait.

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The fictional Olympics at the heart of Rufaro Faith Mazarura's novel, Let the Games Begin, kick off in Athens. And in the middle of one of the most important athletic competitions in the world, star runner Zeke and Olympic organizing committee intern Olivia are thrown together against all odds in what becomes a whirlwind romance. In today's episode, the author speaks with The Indicator's Wailin Wong about why the Olympics are such a good backdrop for a rom-com, why there was a dearth of these stories, and how the International Olympic Committee's copyright rules impacted her writing.

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After she worked on a book about refugee resettlement in the U.S., writer Jessica Goudeau says she realized she knew very little about how her own family arrived in Texas. Her new book, We Were Illegal, looks at multiple generations of her family and how their lives reflected a history of racism, slavery and violence in her home state. In today's episode, Goudeau speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about how family secrets and the language we use to talk about our lineage contributes to the mythmaking of America, and why she wanted to put those difficult conversations out in the open.

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Today's episode highlights two books that revisit the cultural contributions of some pretty big names. First, Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes speaks with Deborah Paredez about American Diva, which reclaims the word 'diva' to celebrate the singularity of women like Serena Williams and Celia Cruz. Then, NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Larry Tye about The Jazzmen, which traces the role that Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie played in the civil rights movement.

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The Hindu holiday Raksha Bandhan is just around the corner – and in a new children's book called Raashi's Rakhis, actor and activist Sheetal Sheth writes about an empowered little girl, Raashi, who asks some pretty big questions about the gender roles prescribed to one of her favorite celebrations. In today's episode, Sheth speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about how she questioned her own parents as a first-generation Indian American, why she wanted to write from a place of inclusivity, and how she navigates some of the backlash she's gotten for doing so.

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In 1987, a Black 22-year-old named Ben Spencer was convicted of murdering a white man in Texas. In 2021, he was cleared of those charges and released from prison. A new book by former NPR reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty,Bringing Ben Home, dives into what went wrong within the Texas legal system for Spencer to serve so much time in prison for a crime he has always said he did not commit. In today's episode, Bradley Hagerty speaks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about her own investigation into the case and the kind of criminal justice reform she says is necessary to prevent this from happening again.

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There's an app for everything. In Kat Tang's debut novel Five-Star Stranger, there's even one that allows you to hire someone you've never met to play a role in your life, like to be best man at a wedding or pretend to be the father of a child. In today's episode, Tang speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the titular stranger at the heart of her story, who is going around New York taking on a number of roles, and how he starts to crack as he reexamines his relationship to a woman who's hired him to pretend to be her husband – and to the girl who believes she's his daughter.

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John J. Sullivan served as U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2019 to 2022. He was there during Russia's invasion of Ukraine – and he writes about that time frankly in his new memoir, Midnight in Moscow. But in today's episode, he also opens up to NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about some of the other strange, even funny moments during his service, like what it's like to sit across a table from Vladimir Putin or how difficult it is to walk into a store and buy an iPad as a diplomat in Russia.

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Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says her new book, The Art of Power, is not a memoir. Instead, she says, it's an inside look at specific moments in American history – like the 2008 financial crisis and January 6 – and how she navigated them. In today's episode, the Speaker Emerita sits down with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly to discuss why she didn't want to run for office in the first place, how she looks back on some of the biggest decisions she's made while in power, and what role she played in President Biden's decision to step down from the 2024 race.

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National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson has written his first novel for adults. Nickedis set in 1087 and follows a monk and treasure hunter looking to steal the bones of Saint Nicholas – this is based on true events — in hopes it will miraculously cure a plague raging through the Italian city of Bari. In today's episode, Anderson speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about why he considers the comic novel a 'medieval noir' and what it means to believe — or not believe – in miracles.

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At the start of Juli Min's debut novel, it's 2040 in Shanghai, and a wealthy real estate developer is parting ways with his wife and adult daughters at the airport. But as the story progresses, Shanghailanders moves back in time, slowly unraveling the dreams, decisions and mistakes of the members of this family all the way back to 2014. In today's episode, Min speaks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about why she decided to write the events of the book in this order, and how the city of Shanghai is a character all on its own.

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Cory Richards made a name for himself taking photographs across the globe for National Geographic. His new memoir, The Color of Everything, grapples with the harsh realities of high-end climbing, fame, mortality – and some of the not-so-great things he's done. In today's episode, Richards speaks with NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer about why he jokes the book is a bit of 'memoir, mountains, mea culpa' and what it means for public figures to open up about their pitfalls.

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Sarah Perry's novel,Enlightenment,recently received a Booker Prize nomination. It follows the relationship between two friends, with a 30 year age difference, as they confront the role of the church, the outside world and the cosmos in their lives over the course of two decades. In today's episode, Perry speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about her religious upbringing, her pandemic telescope and the role it played in her writing.

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Today's episode highlights two books that deal with what it means to be a mom, a wife and a multi-faceted, complicated woman. First, NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben speaks with Claire Lombardo about her novel Same As It Ever Was, which jumps through different phases of protagonist Julia's life to understand her relationship with her son, her husband and an ex-best friend. Then, Danielle Kurtzleben asks Catherine Newman about Sandwich, which takes place during a family's summer vacation in Cape Cod and follows the main character Rocky finding her place between her adult children and her aging parents.

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Matt Pottinger used to cover China for Reuters and The Wall Street Journal before working as a deputy national security advisor for the Trump administration. Now, he's edited a new book called The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan. In today's episode, Pottinger speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the global fallout that could result from China annexing Taiwan and the military strategy he thinks the U.S., Australia and other countries should implement to prevent a larger conflict from breaking out.

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Before he was the director behind films like Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights and Wicked, Jon M. Chu was a teenager in Los Altos, California, playing around with a camera and working at his parents' Chinese restaurant. That's the journey behind his new memoir, Viewfinder. And in today's episode, he speaks with another kid from Los Altos – NPR's Ailsa Chang – about how his parents' attitude towards assimilation shaped his upbringing and how they ended up supporting his dreams of making movies.

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When author Sarah Manguso was going through a divorce a few years ago, she says she put her rage into writing her novelLiars. It's about the dissolution of a marriage, and a woman reckoning with the failures of her relationship on a personal and societal level. In today's episode, Manguso tells NPR's Andrew Limbong how her protagonist's experiences differ from her own, and why different characters are to blame for the lying mentioned in the title.

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A small Texas town in the late 1980s, two teenagers on the outside of the social scene, and a curse for revenge. That's the setup for Stephen Graham Jones' new novel, I Was a Teenage Slasher. But as he tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe, the classic slasher tale at the heart of Jones' book comes with a twist for both the reader and Jones himself as the writer.

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Today's episode features two page-turners full of suspense. First, NPR's Don Gonyea speaks with Todd Ritter – who publishes as Riley Sager – about Middle of the Night, a coming-of-age meets ghost story in which protagonist Ethan Marsh returns to his childhood home and is faced with the decades-old disappearance of his best friend. Then, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly asks Johanna Copeland about Our Kind of Game, and how real-life neighborhood gossip about domestic violence sparked the dark novel about power imbalances in relationships.

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Today's episode is packed with recipes from Khushbu Shah's new cookbook,Amrikan. But beyond that, it's also a conversation with the author and Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about how Indian cuisine has changed with new generations living in diaspora, and how that has led to the introduction of some unlikely ingredients – cream cheese, pickled jalapeños, shokupan — to shake up traditional dishes.

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On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced he was stepping down from his campaign for reelection this November. Soon after, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is poised to become the new Democratic nominee by next month's convention. Today on the podcast, we revisit a 2019 interview between NPR's Rachel Martin and then Sen. Harris about her memoir, The Truths We Hold, her analysis of Donald Trump's popularity and her decision to become a prosecutor.

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Joyce Maynard's new book, How the Light Gets In, is a sequel to her 2021 novel Count the Ways, both following a family grappling with a tragic accident, its aftermath and the expectations they have for one another. In today's episode, Maynard speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about some of the big questions behind both books – "What is a typical family? What is a good mother? Is there such a thing?" – and why she feels it's imperative for her characters to live fully in the world, which means bringing politics and current events into their stories.

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Actor, producer and director Griffin Dunne grew up during a fascinating time in Hollywood history. In today's episode, he tells Here & Now's Emiko Tamagawa he remembers bowing goodnight to his parents' black-tie party guests, like his aunt Joan Didion and his father's friend, Billy Wilder. His new memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club, captures his family's story in a bygone era of the entertainment industry — including his sister Dominique Dunne's death at the hands of her boyfriend in 1982, and the way that tragedy changed her parents and siblings forever.

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Today's episode focuses on two summer reads trying to piece together some pretty big questions. First, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with J. Courtney Sullivan about The Cliffs, which follows an archivist digging through the history of a seaside Victorian house in Maine — and the generations of women who lived there — at the owner's concern that it's haunted. Then, NPR's Scott Simon asks Liz Moore about The God of the Woods, which grapples with the disappearance of a wealthy family's daughter from a summer camp in the Adirondacks in 1975.

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In 2018, Jennifer and Sarah Hart drove off a cliff in California, killing themselves and their six adopted children. While much of the media attention focused on the two women, reporter Roxanna Asgarian set off to investigate what had happened to the children's birth families, and why they'd been removed from their care. In today's episode, Asgarian speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about her book, We Were Once a Family, and the ways the foster care and child welfare system in the United States pushed the Hart siblings into an abusive and ultimately fatal situation.

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This week, former President Donald Trump announced that Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance will be his running mate in the 2024 election. Vance rose to prominence with his bestselling 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which captured his upbringing in Appalachia and his family's intergenerational struggle with poverty, substance abuse and trauma. In today's episode, we revisit a conversation between Vance and NPR's Steve Inskeep about the book, in which he says there are ways politicians misunderstand white, working-class Americans.

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Aida Salazar's new book, Ultraviolet, has a lot in common with Judy Blume's Forever,but from the point of view of an eighth grade boy; it's all about Elio Solis grappling with his changing body, his first girlfriend and his family life. In today's episode, Salazar tells Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes how watching her own son grow up inspired the events of the middle grade book, and they discuss how conversations of consent, masculinity and sex education are just as important for young men as they are for young women.

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Zach Williams' collection of short stories, Beautiful Days, has earned high praise for the unsettling way it examines mundane, everyday life. In today's episode, Williams tells NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer how becoming a dad inspired the anxiety and wonder of parenthood that shows up throughoutBeautiful Days, and the two get to talking about why he chose to focus on the "quickness and musicality" of short stories over writing a novel.

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Today's episode is about two emblematic musicians who take us to very different parts of the globe, from the London punk scene to the Laurel Canyon utopia of the 1960s and 70s. First, Stewart Copeland speaks to NPR's Leila Fadel about his memoir, Stewart Copeland's Police Diaries, which chronicles his time as a drummer for the legendary band. Then, Here & Now's Robin Young is joined by NPR Music's Ann Powers, who's written a biography of Joni Mitchell's expansive career called Traveling.

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Foreign correspondent Peter Hessler taught in China during the country's economic boom in the 1990s, which he wrote about in his book River Town. Now, in Other Rivers, Hessler breaks down what it was like to teach there again more than two decades later. In today's episode, he and NPR international correspondent Emily Feng talk about what changed — and what stayed the same — with a new generation of students in China and how covering the country remains a challenge for so many writers and journalists.

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has a new memoir out – it's about the people and experiences that shaped her version of leadership. Whitmer has led her state through a pandemic, natural disasters and the battle over reproductive rights, among many other issues. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about True Gretch: What I've Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between, her steadfast support for President Biden during his bid for reelection, and how she sees her future in the Democratic party.

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The central character of New York Times correspondent Ed Wong's memoir, At the Edge of Empire, is not Wong himself — it's his father, who studied in Beijing in the 1950s and staunchly supported the Chinese Communist Revolution. Wong's book traces his father's disillusionment with Mao's government and eventual move to the U.S. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about intertwining his family's personal story with the greater history of his parents' home country, and what Americans can still stand to learn about Chinese citizens.

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