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  • A new memoir from Ira Madison III is more than just 'Pure Innocent Fun'

    A new memoir from Ira Madison III is more than just 'Pure Innocent Fun'
    2025/02/19
    TV writer, culture critic and podcast host Ira Madison III was not just one of the only Black students at his high school, he was also one of the only gay kids. In his new memoir, Pure Innocent Fun, Madison writes about how cultural artifacts became more than just a source of entertainment - they became a way to feel connected to others. In today's episode, Madison speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about growing up without many queer adults to turn to, and how Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a way for young queer kids to feel seen.

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    9 分
  • 'Life Hacks for a Little Alien' follows a lonely girl's pursuit of an ancient tome

    'Life Hacks for a Little Alien' follows a lonely girl's pursuit of an ancient tome
    2025/02/18
    In Life Hacks for a Little Alien, both the narrator and protagonist are unnamed. The debut novel from Alice Franklin is written from a second-person perspective and follows a little girl who experiences the world differently. Little Alien is neurodivergent, but undiagnosed, and often finds that people don't understand her. When she encounters an ancient text written in an unknown language, she sees parallels between its indecipherability and her own experiences. In today's episode, Franklin speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the way she plays with language in her story, her own diagnosis journey, and our collective definition of normalcy.

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    7 分
  • A new book from Peter Beinart asks Jewish people to reimagine the Israeli state

    A new book from Peter Beinart asks Jewish people to reimagine the Israeli state
    2025/02/17
    Peter Beinart, once a defender of the Israeli state, has become one of its sharpest critics. His new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, was born out of Beinart's personal struggle within the Jewish community in the wake of the war. In the book, Beinart makes an urgent appeal, asking his peers to imagine a world in which Palestinians and Israeli Jews share equal rights. In today's episode, Beinart joins NPR's Leila Fadel for a discussion that touches on the intertwined relationship between Israeli and Palestinian safety and how a reimagined Israeli state could lead to a better future for all people.

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    12 分
  • Two novels from Charmaine Wilkerson explore cultural inheritance in Black families

    Two novels from Charmaine Wilkerson explore cultural inheritance in Black families
    2025/02/14
    Caribbean American journalist Charmaine Wilkerson began her professional life in TV news. She recalls meeting people on the worst day of their life, when their personal pain was bared to the public eye. Her debut novel, Black Cake, and her new book, Good Dirt, both begin with grief, tracing the loss of loved ones to family revelations that come after. Today's episode revisits a 2022 conversation with Wilkerson and NPR's Kelsey Snell about the role of identity and cultural inheritance in Black Cake. Wilkerson then speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about how those themes develop in Good Dirt.

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    17 分
  • Indie-rock artist Neko Case opens up about her childhood in a new memoir

    Indie-rock artist Neko Case opens up about her childhood in a new memoir
    2025/02/13
    Singer-songwriter Neko Case of The New Pornographers band has just released a memoir titled The Harder I Fight the More I Love You. While the book touches on her time with the Canadian indie-rock group, Case's memoir focuses more on her upbringing – she opens up about her complex relationship with her mother, who faked her own death when Case was young. In today's episode, Case speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about tracing her own family history, allowing room for rage, and seeing forgiveness not as an act, but an organic state of being.

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    9 分
  • 'Bronshtein in the Bronx' is a fictional account of Leon Trotsky's New York exile

    'Bronshtein in the Bronx' is a fictional account of Leon Trotsky's New York exile
    2025/02/12
    In 1917, Lev Bronshtein – also known as Leon Trotsky – spent 10 weeks in exile in New York City. The Russian revolutionary hoped to spark a socialist revolution in the United States, but found disappointment when American workers didn't respond the way he had hoped. Trotsky's time in New York is the subject of Robert Littell's latest novel, Bronshtein in the Bronx. In today's episode, Littell talks with NPR's Scott Simon about the author's family connection to the revolutionary, his decision to name Trotsky's conscience in the book, and the violence of revolution.

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    8 分
  • In Ali Smith's 'Gliff,' two children flee capture in an authoritarian near-future

    In Ali Smith's 'Gliff,' two children flee capture in an authoritarian near-future
    2025/02/11
    In Ali Smith's Gliff, two children wake up to find that someone has painted a red line around their home. They've been marked "unverifiable" and they're at risk of being captured. The dystopian near-future in which they live is a world of government surveillance and environmental destruction – and one without libraries. In today's episode, Smith talks with NPR's Scott Simon about the authoritarian themes in her novel. They discuss what makes authoritarianism feel attractive and safe, Smith's former career as an advertising copywriter, and the connection between slogans and tribalism.

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    7 分
  • In a new book, Chris Hayes argues that attention is our most endangered resource

    In a new book, Chris Hayes argues that attention is our most endangered resource
    2025/02/10
    As a cable news host, MSNBC's Chris Hayes is in the attention business. But in today's interview, he says that he often feels like he's chasing rather than directing his audience's focus. In his new book, The Sirens' Call, Hayes argues that attention has become the information age's most finite resource, with damaging consequences for our politics, lives and collective alienation. In today's episode, Hayes joins NPR's Steve Inskeep for a conversation about the difference between attention and information, President Trump as a symbol of the attention economy, and whether MSNBC is struggling to maintain its audience.

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    8 分