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'X' portrays dystopian reality among the marginalized where they are exported
The setting for today's book could be an "alternate version of right now," according to author Davey Davis. They spoke with Anna Sale in an interview for It's Been a Minute about how their book 'X' l…
Published on 3 years, 4 months ago
'Why Didn't You Tell Me?' explores a false origin story for the price of assimilation
Today's book evaluates the price of assimilation when representation, identity and belonging are erased. In Why Didn't You Tell Me?, author Carmen Rita Wong recounts how she discovered her origin sto…
Published on 3 years, 4 months ago
Two books show life as seen through the eyes of the animal kingdom
Today's episode features two books that reach deep into the animal world. First, E.O. Wilson sits down with Robert Seigel to discuss how the narrative of war is used in his story featuring ants, call…
Published on 3 years, 4 months ago
The history of control over women and their bodies is central in 'The Foundling'
Today's fictional book is set in very non-fictional circumstances. Novelist Ann Leary was trying to learn about her grandmother's history as an orphan and found that she worked at a eugenics asylum i…
Published on 3 years, 5 months ago
Blurred family history gets questioned in Joseph Han's debut novel, 'Nuclear Family'
Today's Book of the Day spans across two places: Hawaii and the Korean Peninsula. The story, though, goes beyond the two realities. In Joseph Han's debut novel Nuclear Family, a Korean family goes th…
Published on 3 years, 5 months ago
'The Pallbearers Club' shows how dangerous nostalgia can be
Today's Book of the Day is a little bit of everything: punk rock music, high school dynamics, some horror tropes, and pointing out the dangers of nostalgia. Author Paul Tremblay discusses with Shanno…
Published on 3 years, 5 months ago
Mark Leibovich details the price of blind loyalty under Donald Trump in new book
As the House's committee hearings on Jan. 6 continue, today's episode offers some context from The Atlantic reporter Mark Leibovich, who has a new book out this month titled Thank You For Your Servit…
Published on 3 years, 5 months ago
Two Indigenous authors on the legacy of a shared, painful history
Today, two books from indigenous authors who make a similar, wry argument: it's a miracle there are any Indigenous people in the Americas alive at all. First, Stephen Graham Jones talks about his hor…
Published on 3 years, 5 months ago
'Covered in Night' compares colonial and Indigenous approaches to justice
In this episode, we're going back in time to 1722 to examine the different approaches to justice between Native Americans and Pennsylvania colonists in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Covered with Ni…
Published on 3 years, 5 months ago
In 'Poet Warrior', Joy Harjo uses poetry to deal with pain and heal
In celebration of the new U.S. poet laureate this year, Ada Limón, today's episode revisits another poet laureate's conversation with Michel Martin about how poetry has been used to deal with pain an…
Published on 3 years, 5 months ago