Omar El Akkad talks about “What Strange Paradise,” and Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang talk about Facebook and “An Ugly Truth.”
Nov 14
Nicholas Boggs on Writing a James Baldwin Biography
<p>Nicholas Boggs’s “Baldwin: A Love Story,” is many things at once. It’s a comprehensive biography of James Baldwin. It’s a nimble excavation of Baldwin’s work, filled with astute literary analysis of his books and prose. And, most pressingly, it’s an argument for a new critical ... Show More
36m 28s
Nov 7
The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, 50 Years Later
<p>On Nov. 10, 1975, during a calamitous storm, the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk below the waves of Lake Superior. All 29 men aboard went down with the vessel. With no survivors and no eyewitnesses, there’s always been a sense of mystery to what is arguably the most famous shipwreck in ... Show More
39m 33s
Jul 2023
Laura Spence-Ash Travels Back in Time
Historical fiction is the genre this week, and it centers around a lesser WWII phenomenon. During the Blitz, many British families sent their children abroad to live with families in Canada or the United States to keep them safe until the war was over. Beyond That, the Sea by deb ... Show More
29m 41s
Mar 2024
The New Coming-of-Age Story
<p>For centuries, the bildungsroman, or novel of education, has offered a window into a formative period of life—and, by extension, into the historical moment in which it’s set. Vinson Cunningham sent the draft of “Great Expectations,” a book loosely based on his experience on Ba ... Show More
50m 1s
Feb 2024
Significant Others: A Sneak Peek at the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal
<p>It’s been said that history is written by the person at the typewriter. But who did the person who made history depend on? Often, it’s impossible to find out. But once in a while, we get lucky, and the story was not only recorded, it’s really good.<br />Well that’s what this p ... Show More
7m 21s