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Honor Jones' 'Sleep' explores how our childhoods influence who we are as parents May 27, 2025

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In Honor Jones' new novel Sleep, the protagonist Margaret grows up in a verdant suburban world with her family and a best friend who follows her through life. But when something disorienting happens to her, Margaret isn't protected – and so she grows up learning to protect herself instead. As a mother, she becomes concerned with how to raise her children to be safe but unafraid. In today's episode, Jones joins NPR's Mary Louise Kelly for a conversation about the novel. Their discussion touches on what stays with us from childhood, parenting as a lowering of expectations, and how Jones achieves her distinctly spare prose.
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Karen Hao's new book is a skeptical look at Sam Altman and Elon Musk's AI empire May 26, 2025

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OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit meant to conduct artificial intelligence research that would benefit the general public. In the company's early days, reporter Karen Hao arranged to spend time in OpenAI's offices and noticed the culture there was incredibly secretive. That secrecy raised questions for Hao that ultimately resulted in her new book, Empire of AI. The book is an intimate look at the company behind ChatGPT, but also at the industry-wide race to control AI. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about early disagreements between founders Sam Altman and Elon Musk, Altman's talents for fundraising and storytelling, and how the AI race is reproducing elements of colonial empire.
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With new novel, Ocean Vuong says he wants to reframe America as a place of salvage May 23, 2025

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Ocean Vuong's debut novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous placed him in an elite club of American writers. He teaches at NYU and is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, among many other honors. But before all this, the author was raised by working-class Vietnamese immigrant parents in Hartford, Connecticut. Vuong's new novel The Emperor of Gladness takes place in a similar environment and centers on an unlikely friendship between a 19 year-old college dropout named Hai and an 82-year-old with dementia named Grazina. In today's episode, Vuong joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation about reframing our view of the United States and the American dream, describing ugly things in a beautiful way, and Vuong's experience working in close quarters at a fast food restaurant.
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'Little Bosses Everywhere' looks into the Wild West of multilevel marketing May 22, 2025

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Multilevel marketing – or MLM – first became popular in the period that followed World War II. Since then, millions have tried their luck as salespeople for companies like Amway, Mary Kay, Cutco and Herbalife. MLMs offer themselves as low-cost paths to entrepreneurship, but very few of their participants are able to earn a living wage. A new book Little Bosses Everywhere by Bridget Read traces the history and culture of the MLM industry. In today's episode, Read speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about why this business model flourishes in economic uncertainty, the unregulated nature of the industry, and the blurred lines between MLMs and pyramid schemes.
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A new biography of Rafael Nadal focuses on the tennis star's domination on clay May 21, 2025

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Tennis legend Rafael Nadal retired last year after a record-breaking career, one that included winning every major championship. In a new biography, Christopher Clarey – former tennis correspondent for The New York Times – considers the player's life and career, with particular focus on Nadal's domination on clay courts. In today's episode, Clarey joins Here & Now's Scott Tong for a conversation about the emotional side of Nadal's game, including the player's rituals and tics, his rivalries with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, and his early mentor in the sport.
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'Original Sin' argues Biden aides enabled his reelection bid, despite mental decline May 20, 2025

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Original Sin recounts a number of moments during which former President Joe Biden allegedly struggled to recognize the people around him, like close aide Mike Donilon or longtime donor George Clooney. The new book by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson argues that there were two versions of the former president, one "functioning" and one "non-functioning." Biden's inner circle, they say, worked to shield the "non-functioning" version from the American public – and even other White House officials. In today's episode, Tapper and Thompson talk with NPR's Scott Detrow about the book and the Biden team's decision to "cover-up" his alleged mental decline.
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In 'Class Clown,' humorist Dave Barry embraces both the funny and hard parts of life May 19, 2025

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Pulitzer Prize-winner Dave Barry wrote a humor column for 22 years. In his new book Class Clown, he tells the story of the first 77 years of his life, spent embracing comedy – but also some difficulties. One focus of the book is his relationship with his parents. Barry writes that his mom was a kind of comedic mentor who possessed a uniquely dark, edgy wit, but also struggled with depression. And Barry's father was a Presbyterian minister and, he says, a famously good listener, but also developed alcoholism. In today's episode, the author joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation that touches on Barry's family, and also his concerns about new trends in the comedy industry.
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'The Golden Road' and 'The Lucky Ones' examine India's ancient and recent history May 16, 2025

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In light of the latest conflict between India and Pakistan, today's episode focuses on two books that examine India's ancient and recent history. First, ancient India was home to the exchange of goods and ideas that transformed the world, including the number system, heliocentrism, and Buddhism. In his book The Golden Road, historian William Dalrymple makes the case for India's centrality to the story of human civilization. In today's episode, the author speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about why this history isn't a larger part of our popular imagination. Then, we hear from Zara Chowdhary about The Lucky Ones, her first-person account of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat. In today's episode, she speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the aftermath of the Godhra train burning, Prime Minister Modi's role in the incident, and the dangers of releasing her book in this political moment.
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A new biography tells the twin stories of James Gandolfini and Tony Soprano May 15, 2025

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James Gandolfini starred in The Sopranos for six seasons. The show, which ended in 2007, was considered an instant classic and permanently linked Gandolfini to his character, Tony Soprano. Gandolfini died in 2013, but a new biography tells the story of his life. In Gandolfini, Jason Bailey portrays the actor as an unlikely star who struggled after The Sopranos to grow as an artist. In today's episode, the author joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation about Gandolfini's path to HBO stardom, a famous pay negotiation, and the actor's struggle with personal demons.
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'The Lost and the Found' takes an intimate look at homelessness in San Francisco May 14, 2025

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As a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Kevin Fagan embedded with the city's unhoused population. Now retired, he's written a book built around two of the people he got to know through his reporting. The Lost and the Found zooms in on the lives of Rita and Tyson, who ended up chronically homeless in San Francisco through a cascade of circumstances. In today's episode, Fagan speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about their stories, Fagan's own experience with poverty and housing insecurity, and the Reagan-era policies that led to an increased unhoused population in the 1980s.
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