After a racism controversy, the national trade organization for romance writers had been making progress. Then, they gave a major prize to a book whose hero murdered Native Americans at Wounded Knee.
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.
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.
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.
Detroit automakers lifted their mask mandates for fully vaccinated workers just a few weeks ago. But starting Wednesday, masks are required again at all Ford, GM and Stellantis facilities.
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.
Anthony Veasna So's posthumously published short story collection offers a smart, compassionate take on the push-pull of growing up first-generation Cambodian American.
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.'
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.
"Being Clem," the final book in the YA "Finding Langston" trilogy, follows a young boy during World War II after his father is killed. Scott Simon talks with author Lesa Cline-Ransome about it.
Scott Simon speaks with Claire Luchette about her debut novel, "Agatha of Little Neon." It's the story of four young nuns who are reassigned to a half-way house in Rhode Island.
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.
William Gardner Smith wrote the story of a Black writer who, like Smith himself, moved to Paris to pursue a freedom he couldn't find in America. New York Review Books is releasing a new edition.
Sweat is an "evolutionary marvel," says Sarah Everts, the author of The Joy of Sweat. In her new book, Everts delves into the science of perspiration and how this trait has enabled humans to thrive.
You don't have to be an Olympian to hit a wall — by late July, nothing's exciting anymore, not even the blow-up pool. We've got three books that can help your kids get their reading groove back.
Poet Adrian Matejka used to be a DJ — and when he got stuck in pandemic-induced misery, it was music that lifted him up and helped him finish writing his latest book, Somebody Else Sold the World.
August can sometimes be a stretch of the doldrums when it comes to publishing — but this month there are so many fascinating books on the horizon, we added an extra to our usual list of five.
Messy and floundering in late midlife, Dana Spiotta's heroine is roiling — along with the rest of the country — amid the 2016 election and the rise of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements.
It protects from drizzles and thunderstorms but not a hurricane. In other words, if you are exposed again and again to infected people, there's some risk you could get sick.
On the latest episode of Code Switch, Cisneros talks about why she became obsessed with houses, what it was like to finally buy one, and—spoiler alert—what it felt like to fall out of love with it.
NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Katherine Mooney, author of the book Race Horse Men: How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack, about the erasure of African-Americans in the equestrian world.
This month, romance columnist Maya Rodale brings us three tales of danger and mystery, political intrigues, airship pirates, angry Scotsmen, and of course, the essential ingredient: passion.
