Lesley M.M. Blume's book tells the story of John Hersey, whose on-the-ground reporting in Hiroshima, Japan, exposed the world to the devastation of nuclear weapons. Originally broadcast Aug. 19, 2020.
James Rebanks' new book Pastoral Song urgently conveys how the drive for cheap, mass-produced food has impoverished both small farmers and the soil, threatening humanity's future.
Maryse Condé's new novel follws a lonely man, an obstetrician who adopts an orphaned baby girl and tries to find her family — it's an examination of loss and grief on a personal and national level.
Journalist Peter Bergen visited bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, before it was demolished. His new book, The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, draws on materials seized in the raid.
The South practiced slavery before the Civil War — but Northern states like Ohio and Indiana had Black laws, restrictive codes that criminalized and constrained the lives of free Black residents
Wambach retired from soccer in 2015, and now, as a professional speaker, she shares three books that helped her learn to be a leader — both on the field and off.
Nathan Harris's debut, set in a small Southern town just after Appomattox, has captured American readersthis summer by asking a question we haven't yet answered: How do you make peace after civil war?
Anthony Veasna So died in December, but he lives on in the pages of this debut story collection — a vibrant, funny and unsparing look at the lives of Cambodian Americans in his California hometown.
Maggie Smith's new poetry collection considers the human tendency to search for universal truths — but she looks for those truths in things we can see every day, as ordinary as rosebushes and rocks.
Writer Anthony Veasna So was a rising figure in the literary scene until he died in December. His stories captured the fullness of queer, Cambodian American life.
It's a particular pleasure to see our splintered country through the eyes of Margarita Gokun Silver, a determined and appreciative emigree, in 'I Named My Dog Pushkin.'
Sometimes books can be a literal escape, not just a figurative one. Our critic Alethea Kontis recommends three fantasy novels that helped her along the way as she escaped an abusive relationship.
Six Crimson Cranes and The River Has Teeth — two new July YA novels — both focus on monstrous mothers and folkloric family magic. But apart from that, they couldn't be more different.
This summer, Code Switch is laser-focused on books that teach us about freedom. Today, we're in conversation with a romance novelist whose own identity helped inform a rich cast of characters.
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with writer Jaime Lowe about her new book, Breathing Fire, which tells the stories of the incarcerated women who are part of California's wildfire crews.