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'Headshot' follows 8 teenage girls into the boxing ring Mar 20, 2024

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Eight young women are competing at the 12th Annual Women's 18 and Under Daughters of America Cup, a boxing competition at the heart of Headshot. Each girl has her reasons for fighting her way to this ring in Reno, Las Vegas — and Rita Bullwinkel's debut novel is a searing look inside the mental and physical state of her protagonists. In today's episode, the author speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about how her own childhood as a polo player informed her writing, and why she chose to follow her characters way beyond their time in the ring.
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Christine Blasey Ford tells her own story in 'One Way Back' Mar 19, 2024

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Christine Blasey Ford says the time leading up to her 2018 testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee – and its aftermath – is a lot like surfing, venturing out into unknown waters. Her new memoir, One Way Back, recounts her experience coming forward with an accusation that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in the 1980s. In today's episode, Blasey Ford speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about why she originally wanted to avoid being in the public spotlight, but why she felt it was her civic duty to inform the country about what she'd gone through.
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'2054' is a political thriller about civil war, misinformation and AI Mar 18, 2024

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2034, the first novel by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, chronicled a nuclear conflict between China and the U.S. Now, their sequel 2054 takes a look at the country two decades later. The President is suddenly assassinated giving a speech, which sparks a flood of conspiracy theories, digitally-altered images and horrifying technological discoveries. In today's episode, the authors speak with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about the relationship between technology and American institutions, and how destruction is sometimes an inevitable part of progress.
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In 'Collision of Power' and 'Outtakes,' journalists look back on their careers Mar 15, 2024

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Today's episode features two retired journalists who've written memoirs reflecting on some of the highs and lows of a career in the industry. First, former Washington Post editor Marty Baron speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about Collision of Power, covering the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections and the state of media in today's electoral cycle. Then, former NPR producer Peter Breslow joins NPR's Ayesha Rascoe to discuss Outtakes, taking a three-month work trip camping across China and up Mount Everest and finding hope in a music school in Afghanistan.
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In 'The Extinction of Irena Rey,' translators search for a missing author Mar 14, 2024

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Eight translators from eight countries travel to a Polish forest to begin adapting famed author Irena Rey's newest book into their respective languages. But when Irena Rey disappears, a competitive, ego-fueled search unravels in the surrounding woods and within each person. In today's episode, author Jennifer Croft speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about her new novel, The Extinction of Irena Rey, and how her own experience as an International Booker Prize-winning translator sparked an interest in the drive and desires of the people tasked with "shapeshifting" a text into their own tongue.
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'The Last Ships from Hamburg' recalls the plight of Jewish refugees before WWI Mar 13, 2024

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Before World War I, approximately 2 million Jewish people fled Russia and Eastern Europe for the United States. The Last Ships from Hamburg, a new book by Steven Ujifusa, recounts this time in history with a special focus on three businessmen who facilitated mass emigration: Jacob Schiff, Albert Ballin and J.P. Morgan. In today's episode, Ujifusa speaks with Here & Now's Scott Tong about how anti-immigrant rhetoric in the U.S. looks very similar today to how it did then, and why beyond historical record, this is a deeply personal story for him to write.
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Maurice Vellekoop's graphic memoir recounts his coming out to his religious family Mar 12, 2024

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Maurice Vellekoop's new graphic memoir, I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together, is named after the song Carol Burnett would close out her show with in the '60s and '70s. But it's also a reflection of some of the author-illustrator's most cherished childhood memories, going shopping in downtown Toronto with his mom. In today's episode, Vellekoop tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe how that relationship changed as he came to terms with his sexuality — something his religious mother did not accept — and how his father ended up surprising him later in life.
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In 'Anita de Monte Laughs Last,' Xochitl Gonzalez explores marriage, art and success Mar 11, 2024

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Raquel Toro, the protagonist of Xochitl Gonzalez's new novel, is working on her thesis about a minimalist sculptor when she discovers his all-but-forgotten wife, artist Anita de Monte, died after falling 33 stories from their apartment more than a decade prior. Based on the story of Cuban artist Ana Mendieta, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is an odyssey into ego, power and marriage in the art world. In today's episode, Gonzalez tells NPR's Scott Simon how fiction allowed her to expand on Mendieta's legacy, and why she didn't want to discredit the husband's own career along the way.
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Tommy Orange follows 'There, There' with 'Wandering Stars' Mar 08, 2024

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Tommy Orange's debut novel, There, There, centers several Native American characters grappling with identity in the bustling city of Oakland, California. In today's episode, we revisit a profile of Orange reported by NPR's Lynn Neary in 2018. Then, Orange joins NPR's Scott Simon to discuss his new book Wandering Stars, a sequel to There, There that stretches across time to follow a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. Orange explains how an image he saw in a museum in Sweden introduced him to this historical narrative, and why he decided to focus on his protagonist Orvil's ancestors.
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Kara Swisher's memoir 'Burn Book' reflects on a career covering Silicon Valley Mar 07, 2024

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Journalist Kara Swisher, who's been covering the internet and the tech industry for decades, says she's not surprised when people like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk lie to her — but what she says they sometimes don't realize is how much they lie to themselves. Her new memoir, Burn Book, recounts what she's learned in conversation with some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley. In today's episode, Swisher tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that as disillusioned as she is with how much harm the industry has caused, she's still optimistic about the future of tech and AI.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
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