NPR Topics: Books

What We're Reading, Feb. 9 - 15, 2010

Date: Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:00:00 -0500
Three novels of past and present: Lynn Neary reviews the "perfect" novel for our down economy — written before the banks failed. Steve Inskeep reads a tale of political infighting resonant of today, but that follows events in Cicero's Rome. And Alan Cheuse celebrates The Lost Books of the Odyssey, a novel both timeless and very contemporary.

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Doctor Works To Get Young Men Out Of 'Wrong Place'

Date: Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500
When young African-American men showed up at Boston City Hospital with knife and gunshot wounds, most were thought to be thugs or drug dealers. But Dr. John Rich took time to interview these victims and found out what was really behind their injuries.

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Two New Novels Based On Homer's Work

Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:00:00 -0500
Two new novels this month are based on motifs from Homer's great poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Alan Cheuse reviews Ransom by David Malouf and The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachery Mason.

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Observations Of China, From Behind The Wheel

Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:24:00 -0500
In summer 2001, New Yorker Beijing correspondent Peter Hessler got his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years, he traveled thousands of miles through China, reporting on how the car is transforming the country.

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Imagining 'The Next Hundred Million' Americans

Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:00:00 -0500
The U.S. population is expected to reach 400 million by mid-century. In his book, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, Joel Kotkin argues that future will be green, diverse and suburban. Kotkin explains how the nation's changing demographics will transform American life and communities.

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