New In Paperback

A Way With Words, Money, Crime And Secrets

Novelist Tayari Jones explores a father's deception of his family, while historian David McCullough looks at 19th-century Americans in Paris, Roy Blount Jr. revels in verbal curiosities, writer Bill James reflects on true-crime stories, and journalist Diana Henriques probes the Ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff.

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Monkey See

Like Books? Like NPR? We Invite You To Explore The New NPR Books!

Have you had a chance to poke around the new NPR Books yet? We've given it a heck of an overhaul. Here's the how, what and why — and an invitation to explore.

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Fine Art

The Best Of The Louvre, On A Single Canvas

Samuel Morse, best known as the inventor of the telegraph, was also an accomplished painter. His masterpiece, Gallery of the Louvre, was a composite painting of Italian Renaissance works he created as a way to bring the culture of Europe home to America.

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Book Reviews

Historical Summer Reads To Transport You Back In Time

When book critic Maureen Corrigan was a kid, her family would pile into the car for trips to sites of historical interest. For Corrigan, summer has always been the season for traveling back to a bygone age — either by hitting the road or hitting the books.

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Around the Nation

John Adams' Legacy Revisited in HBO Series

After a difficult term in office, John Adams, America's first vice president and second president, was chronically under-recognized. But a biography of Adams sparked a reconsideration of the founding father's legacy, which now springs to life in an HBO mini-series.

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Books

The Art of War: An Illustrated '1776'

Paintings from the Revolutionary War provide historians with as much insight as the written word, author David McCullough says. In a new illustrated version of his best-seller 1776, he catalogues a sometimes flawed but earnest visual record of America's birth.

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Not Your Usual Summer Reading

For some, the summer is a time to indulge in frothy beach reading: the latest chick lit or globetrotting, highly unbelievable thriller. But book critic Maureen Corrigan has taken a different tack this year: She's catching up on more substantial reading that she hasn't had time for yet.

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Author Interviews

'1776' Takes Readers to the Battlefront

David McCullough tells Steve Inskeep about his new book 1776. The book chronicles the battles George Washington's army fought to win independence for America from Britain.

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