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Books

2022 Books We Love: Staff Picks
Chelsea Conrad

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

2022 Books We Love: Staff Picks

Books We Love is a yearly labor of love here at NPR. Every year, the Books We Love team solicits recommendations from NPR staff and book critics and culls through them, creating an interactive reading guide you can use to find the perfect book for you or someone you love. Today, we're talking staff picks.

2022 Books We Love: Staff Picks

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What's the secret sauce that lets some poor countries prosper?

Before COVID, business in Beijing was booming. Dercon says one of the reasons state-led development in China has been so successful is because the country had a strong state to begin with. Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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Bloomberg via Getty Images

Review

Goats and Soda

What's the secret sauce that lets some poor countries prosper?

In his new book, Gambling on Development, economist Stefan Dercon argues that the key to a low-resource country's success is not what you might think.

Kids want to know: 'Will It Be Okay?' — this book answers that question
Jessica Love/Cameron Company

Picture This

Kids want to know: 'Will It Be Okay?' — this book answers that question

Crescent Dragonwagon was in her 20s when she wrote a story told entirely in dialogue between a mother and her child. Now, she's updating her 1977 text with new illustrations by Jessica Love.

Kids want to know: 'Will It Be Okay?' — this book answers that question

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Author Interviews

Journalist Maria Ressa explains 'How to Stand Up to a Dictator'

Fresh Air

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist faced criminal charges in the Philippines after her news site's reporting angered government officials. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is her new memoir.

Journalist Maria Ressa explains 'How to Stand Up to a Dictator'

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Maureen Corrigan's favorite books of the year: 10 disparate reads for a hectic 2022
NPR

Review

Book Reviews

Maureen Corrigan's favorite books of the year: 10 disparate reads for a hectic 2022

Fresh Air

Some years, this annual book list falls into a pattern: like stand-out memoirs or dystopian fiction. But 2022 could not be contained, and these titles sprawl all over the place in subject and form.

Maureen Corrigan's favorite books of the year: 10 disparate reads for a hectic 2022

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A journalist's plea to the West: 'Pay attention to Ukraine and its fate'

Ukrainian flags fly in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 19, marking the graves of soldiers killed in action following the Russian invasion earlier this year. Carl Court/Getty Images hide caption

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Carl Court/Getty Images

Ukraine invasion — explained

A journalist's plea to the West: 'Pay attention to Ukraine and its fate'

Fresh Air

Invasion author Luke Harding began reporting from Ukraine in December 2021 and was in Kyiv the night before the Russian invasion began. "There is no mood inside Ukrainian society to yield," he says.

A journalist's plea to the West: 'Pay attention to Ukraine and its fate'

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Music Interviews

Singer Brandi Carlile talks ambition, avoidance and finally finding her place

Fresh Air

The Grammy winner got her start as a kid, singing backup for an Elvis impersonator. Her memoir, Broken Horses, is about her early life and the family she's built. Originally broadcast in April 2021.

Singer Brandi Carlile talks ambition, avoidance and finally finding her place

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Pop Culture

Mel Brooks says his only regret as a comedian is the jokes he didn't tell

Fresh Air

Brooks wrote countless edgy jokes over the years, but he doesn't regret any of them. He calls comedy his "delicious refuge" from the world. His memoir is All About Me! Originally broadcast in 2021.

Mel Brooks says his only regret as a comedian is the jokes he didn't tell

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'Love and Rockets' celebrates 40 years of edgy, Latinx, alternative comics

Mario, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, 1983. Carol Kovinick Hernandez/Fantagraphics hide caption

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Carol Kovinick Hernandez/Fantagraphics

Culture

'Love and Rockets' celebrates 40 years of edgy, Latinx, alternative comics

Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez have been drawing and writing their comic book series Love and Rockets since 1982.

'Love and Rockets' celebrates 40 years of edgy, Latinx, alternative comics

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Biography traces public support for J. Edgar Hoover in most of his 48 years in power

J. Edgar Hoover is seen in his Washington, D.C., office in 1936. A new biography of the long-time FBI director looks at public support for his policies during most of his tenure. AP hide caption

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AP

Biography traces public support for J. Edgar Hoover in most of his 48 years in power

G-Man by Yale historian Beverly Gage examines how Hoover held onto power and describes his complicated legacy on racial justice and surveillance.

Biography traces public support for J. Edgar Hoover in most of his 48 years in power

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Mike Pence, pondering a presidential run, condemns Trump's rhetoric on Jan. 6

Former Vice President Mike Pence (right) speaks with Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep at the law library of the Indiana state capitol in Indianapolis on Monday. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

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Nickolai Hammar/NPR

Politics

Mike Pence, pondering a presidential run, condemns Trump's rhetoric on Jan. 6

Former Vice President Mike Pence tells Morning Edition that he and former President Donald Trump have gone "our separate ways." Pence looks back on pivotal moments and ahead to what he might do next.

Mike Pence, pondering a presidential run, condemns Trump's rhetoric on Jan. 6

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A cell biologist shares the wonder of researching life's most fundamental form
Simon & Schuster

Shots - Health News

A cell biologist shares the wonder of researching life's most fundamental form

Fresh Air

Physician Siddhartha Mukherjee explains how cellular science could lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer, HIV, Type 1 diabetes and sickle cell anemia. His new book is The Song of the Cell.

A cell biologist shares the wonder of researching life's most fundamental form

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What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams and Raul Julia as Gomez Addams in Addams Family Values. Paramount Pictures/Cinematic Collection/Alamy Stock Photo hide caption

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Paramount Pictures/Cinematic Collection/Alamy Stock Photo

Pop Culture Happy Hour

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Dawnlands: A Novel, Addams Family Values, Wind of Change and Turnstile.

Embracing life as a late bloomer
Diana Ragland

TED Radio Hour

Embracing life as a late bloomer

For most of her life, writer Doree Shafrir felt like she was always falling behind her peers. She describes how she finally came around to accepting – even celebrating – life as a late bloomer.

Embracing life as a late bloomer

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The carbon coin: A novel idea
Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

The carbon coin: A novel idea

What if we could engineer a path towards solving the climate crisis...with monetary policy? Kim Stanley Robinson's novel The Ministry for the Future considers this question, and the idea is catching on in real life too.

The carbon coin: A novel idea

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