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NPR Book Reviews
  • Excerpt: 'Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire'
    <em>Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire</em> collects celebrity answers to deep (and not-so-deep) questions.
  • Big And Beautiful: Best Gift Books of 2009
    In a year dominated by cheap best-sellers and E-books, reviewer John McAlley selects a few to treasure well past the holiday season &mdash; volumes big and small that pack an artistic punch. From painting to photography to classic cartoons, these books contain everything from the lives of 1950s Americans to the best outfits the streets of New York have to offer.
  • The Secret Political Reach Of 'The Family'
    A secretive fellowship of powerful Christian politicians includes some names that have recently been prominent in the headlines: Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Bart Stupak and Rep. Joe Pitts. Writer Jeff Sharlet describes the men's involvement with the Family, and discusses recent developments within the group.
  • Excerpt: 'The Family'
  • What We're Reading: Nov. 24 - 30, 2009
    This week, Michael Crichton's last book, ever, sails the seas of pirate adventure. In story collections: Alice Munro's strong and subtly mysterious women; Ha Jin's immigrants caught between two worlds. And a space-program history finds surprising drama in the unmanned voyages.
  • At 150, Darwin's 'Origin' Stirs Even More Debate
    On Nov. 24, 1859, a book that changed the world first appeared in print. <em>On the Origin of Species</em> proposed a radical new theory about how all life on Earth evolved. In many respects, the book sparks greater controversy today than when it first appeared.
  • Excerpt: 'A New Literary History of America'
    Editors Greil Marcus and Werner Sollers curated this new anthology of essays about American culture
  • Alan Cheuse's Book Picks To Warm A Winter's Night
    Book reviewer Alan Cheuse selects the highlights of this holiday season: futuristic dystopias; things that go bump in the night; portraits from Norman Rockwell's America; gay New York; a celebration of our immigrant adventures; one writer's journey to manhood; and, of course, Long John Silver.
  • Excerpt: 'City Boy'
    The latest installment of Edmund White's biography remembers gay life in 1960s and '70s New York.
  • Damned 'From Here To Eternity'
    Author James Ellroy was 12 when <em>From Here To Eternity</em> showed him a new, damned world: Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, in the months before the Pearl Harbor attack. Ellroy had already come to see the world as a harsh place, but the book gave him characters at the outset of America's most perilous moment and ultimate ascent. He says you must read it.
  • Excerpt: 'American Fantastic Tales'
    This collection &mdash; edited by Peter Straub &mdash; draws from 300 years of American horror and fantasy.
  • Excerpt: 'Becoming Americans'
    400 years of poems, essays and stories about coming to America, edited by Ilan Stavans.
  • Excerpt: 'The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard'
    Nearly 100 stories from the celebrated author of <em>Crash</em> and <em>Empire of the Sun</em>.
  • Turan's Book Spotlights Theater Producer Joe Papp
    There's a new book out about legendary theater producer Joseph Papp. Kenneth Turan's book is called <em>Free for All: Joe Papp, the Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told.</em> Papp founded the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater. He also produced works like <em>Hair</em> and <em>A Chorus Line.</em>
  • Author: Polar Bears Are 'On Thin Ice'
    Polar bears are some of the most high-profile victims of global warming. They?re irresistibly cute, and author Richard Ellis says they?ll disappear from the wild within a hundred years as irreversible warming destroys the polar ice caps. Ellis talks to host Guy Raz about his new bo<em>ok, On Thin Ice: The Changing World of the Polar B</em>ear.