More than 2,000 newspapers have shut down in recent years, and some regions have become news deserts. Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan says the collapse of local news undermines democracy.
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with author Edward Ball about his new book, Life of a Klansman, revolving around a man his family called "our Klansman."
White Too Long author Robert P. Jones says churches should be more in vocal on issues of social justice: "White Christians have been largely silent ... and have hardly begun these conversations."
Author and music critic Maria Sherman talks about her new book, Larger Than Life: A History of Boy Bands from NKOTB to BTS and forgoingrock elitism to give into the joy of boy band pop songs.
When Natasha Trethewey was 19, her stepfather killed her mother. Tretheway says she aimed to "forge a new life for myself that didn't include that past." Her new memoir is Memorial Drive.
In the memoir, The New One, comic Birbiglia and his wife, Jen Stein, open up about his ambivalence about fatherhood and the strain it had on their marriage.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan about his new book Still Standing: Surviving Cancer, Riots, a Global Pandemic, and the Toxic Politics That Divide America.
NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with author Catherine Lacey about her new book. Pew is a novel about an unnamed character with no identifiable characteristics and the character's impact on a small town.
Mary Trump was devastated when her uncle was elected president. Her book, Too Much and Never Enough, describes Donald Trump as a "belligerent" youth who hasn't changed since he was a teen.
Almost nothing is known about William Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, who died at age 11. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Maggie O'Farrell about her new novel, which imagines the boy's life and death.
Early data suggest the pandemic may be driving up overdoses. Author Barbara Andraka-Christou says the solution to the addiction crisis is right before us: Improve access to life-saving medication.
"I saw firsthand how police and prosecutors manipulate evidence, coerce witnesses into giving false testimony," says Jim McCloskey of Centurion Ministries. His memoir is When Truth is All You Have.
The Jeopardy! host didn't plan to write an autobiography. "I'm just a quiz show host who's been doing the same job for 36 years," he says. But writing the book gave him "a great deal of satisfaction."
The late J.L. Chestnut was the first Black lawyer in Selma, Ala. He was working with the NAACP at the time of the city's 1965 civil rights march. In 1990, he spoke to Fresh Air about Bloody Sunday.
Franco-Moroccan writer Leila Slimani's new book examines the restricted sex lives of women in a country where, she says, the unofficial motto is "Do what you wish, but never talk about it."
Dr. Christine Montross says people with serious mental illnesses in the U.S. are far more likely to be incarcerated than to be treated in a psychiatric hospital. Her new book is Waiting for an Echo.
NPR correspondent Pam Fessler, author of Carville's Cure: Leprosy, Stigma, and the Fight for Justice, talks about her research into this once feared disease — and its connection to COVID-19.
SNL "Weekend Update" co-anchor Colin Jost acknowledges that his clean-cut image sometimes rubs people the wrong way. "When I get hurt or hit on camera ... the audience really loves it," he says.
NPR's Lulu Gracia-Navarro speaks with NPR's Pam Fessler about her book, Carville's Cure. It's about the leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana where people with Hansen's disease, or leprosy, were sent.
A letter on the importance of open debate was published by Harper's Magazine this week and was signed by more than 150 prominent writers and thinkers, fueling a controversy over debate and privilege.
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Charlie Kaufman about his new novel, Antkind, about film critic B. Rosenberger Rosenberg and his quest to recall a strange new film.
In a new memoir, Dr. Michele Harper writes about treating gunshot wounds, discovering evidence of child abuse — and drawing courage from her patients as she's struggled to overcome her own trauma.
The president isn't known for his faith. Instead, author Sarah Posner says he connects with Evangelicals by voicing the legal, social, religious and cultural grievances of the Christian right.
Adam Kucharski, author of the new book The Rules Of Contagion, talks about how to predict the spread (and end) of contagious events, from viruses to internet trends.
![Mike Birbiglia was initially reluctant to become a father, but his wife, Jen Stein, saw things things differently. "I felt like [parenthood] was the kind of challenge that we were ready for," she says.](https://knpr.org/sites/default/files/public/styles/thumbnail/public/images/npr-story/895714036_3959457.jpg?itok=In5k73fH "Ryan Miller, Capture Imaging")
