Search results for

Novelist Marilynne Robinson takes on Christian faith and the American West in her new collection of essays, When I Was a Child I Read Books. "I find that the hardest work in the world," she writes, "... is to persuade Easterners that growing up in the West is not intellectually crippling."

When an intern accused author John D'Agata of embellishing the facts in an essay, the two began wrestling over the writer's responsibility to the truth, and even the meaning of truth itself. The Lifespan of a Fact is the real-life record of their debate (or is it?).

After a museum conservator's lover dies, she becomes consumed with reanimating a 19th-century silver swan automaton. Critic Heller McAlpin says that Peter Carey's new novel is part historical, part fanciful and completely wonderful.

China's newest five-year plan aims to make the country an aerospace powerhouse — and indirectly, a more modern, prosperous, sophisticated industrial nation. The plan would help Chinese companies expand outside national borders and grab a chunk of the aerospace market — but will it succeed?

Patricia McCormick's new young adult novel tells the story of Arn Chorn-Pond, a real-life survivor of the Cambodian genocide whose musical skills kept him alive.

New York Times "Phys Ed" columnist Gretchen Reynolds has some simple advice for staying healthy: Stand up. Move around. In her new book, The First 20 Minutes, she explains the hazards of a sedentary lifestyle, and details some of the surprisingly simple ways to stay fit.

There are countless memorable New Yorker magazine covers. But for every one that appears on the newsstand, countless more end up in the rejection pile. Now, a new book collects some of the best rejected covers and explains why they didn't make the cut.

In The Right-Hand Shore, Christopher Tilghman returns to the racially charged landscape and the crumbling plantations of his book Mason's Retreat. Fresh Air critic Maureen Corrigan calls the prequel "the real deal."

Daily Beast and Newsweek editor Tina Brown highlights a book and an article on two titanic individuals at the center of political change: Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin and pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar.

In her new book, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow invokes Thomas Jefferson to argue for limited government — at least in the case of the military. She argues that sometimes we got to war because we've invested so much in military strength.