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Maureen Corrigan Maureen Corrigan is a book critic for Fresh Air.
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Maureen Corrigan

2 Books Find Fuel In The American Landscape

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2 Books Find Fuel In The American Landscape

Fresh Air

Critic Maureen Corrigan recommends two books to expand your horizons: One is a cultural history of the great American road trip; the other an early 20th-century classic of Midwestern rural life.

2 Books Find Fuel In The American Landscape

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Pithy And Pointed 'There There' Puts Native American Voices Front And Center

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Pithy And Pointed 'There There' Puts Native American Voices Front And Center

Fresh Air

Critic Maureen Corrigan says Tommy Orange's novel, which centers on a cast of native and mixed-race characters whose lives intersect at a powwow, features "a literary authority rare in a debut."

Pithy And Pointed 'There There' Puts Native American Voices Front And Center

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2 First-Rate Suspense Novels Deliver Chills, Thrills — And Stunning Endgames

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2 First-Rate Suspense Novels Deliver Chills, Thrills — And Stunning Endgames

Fresh Air

In the relaxed days of summer, critic Maureen Corrigan reflexively reaches for a mystery. This year, she's settling in with The Dime, by Kathleen Kent, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway, by Ruth Ware.

2 First-Rate Suspense Novels Deliver Chills, Thrills — And Stunning Endgames

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Southern Gothic 'Florida' Spins Tales Of Hurricanes, Humidity And Humanity
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Southern Gothic 'Florida' Spins Tales Of Hurricanes, Humidity And Humanity

Fresh Air

Lauren Groff sets her new story collection in what she calls the "sunniest and strangest of states." Critic Maureen Corrigan says the tales are "brooding, inventive — and often moving."

Southern Gothic 'Florida' Spins Tales Of Hurricanes, Humidity And Humanity

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Sexuality, Mortality, Failure — 'My Ex-Life' Has Fun Asking Big Questions

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Sexuality, Mortality, Failure — 'My Ex-Life' Has Fun Asking Big Questions

Fresh Air

A divorced couple reconnects after nearly 30 years apart in Stephen McCauley's new novel. Critic Maureen Corrigan says My Ex-Life is a social satire that's "suffused with generosity."

Sexuality, Mortality, Failure — 'My Ex-Life' Has Fun Asking Big Questions

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'Barracoon' Offers A Vivid, First-Hand Account Of Slavery In America

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Courtesy of McGill Studio Collection/The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of South Alabama/Harper Collins

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'Barracoon' Offers A Vivid, First-Hand Account Of Slavery In America

Fresh Air

In 1927, author Zora Neale Hurston interviewed Cudjo Lewis, the last known living person who could recount the experience of being taken captive in Africa and transported on a slave ship to America.

'Barracoon' Offers A Vivid, First-Hand Account Of Slavery In America

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A Weird-But-True Story Takes Flight In 'The Feather Thief'

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A Weird-But-True Story Takes Flight In 'The Feather Thief'

Fresh Air

Kirk Wallace Johnson's new book chronicles the real-life heist of 299 rare bird skins from Britain's Tring Museum in 2009. Maureen Corrigan says The Feather Thief reads like a "classic thriller."

A Weird-But-True Story Takes Flight In 'The Feather Thief'

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'Art Of The Wasted Day' Makes A Case For Letting The Mind Wander
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'Art Of The Wasted Day' Makes A Case For Letting The Mind Wander

Fresh Air

Patricia Hampl's sharp new book argues that daydreaming is a vital part of life. Maureen Corrigan says, after reading it, "you'll understand more of what makes life worth living."

'Art Of The Wasted Day' Makes A Case For Letting The Mind Wander

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Meg Wolitzer Traces The Arc Of The Feminist Movement In 'The Female Persuasion'
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Meg Wolitzer Traces The Arc Of The Feminist Movement In 'The Female Persuasion'

Fresh Air

Wolitzer's new novel centers on a legendary feminist and the young woman whose life she transforms. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls The Female Persuasion an absorbing and compelling work.

Meg Wolitzer Traces The Arc Of The Feminist Movement In 'The Female Persuasion'

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Magnificent Book Captures The Beauty And Tragedy Of The Battleship Yamato

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Magnificent Book Captures The Beauty And Tragedy Of The Battleship Yamato

Fresh Air

Jan Morris chronicles the final days of the most powerful warship in the Imperial Japanese Navy in her latest book. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Battleship Yamato a work of both power and restraint.

Magnificent Book Captures The Beauty And Tragedy Of The Battleship Yamato

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2 Books Investigate The Mysteries Of Agatha Christie And The Golden State Killer
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2 Books Investigate The Mysteries Of Agatha Christie And The Golden State Killer

Fresh Air

Maureen Corrigan recommends two books that grapple with real-life mysteries: Laura Thompson's biography of the sphinxlike Agatha Christie, and I'll Be Gone In The Dark, by the late Michelle McNamara.

2 Books Investigate The Mysteries Of Agatha Christie And The Golden State Killer

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'Eat The Apple' Is A Brilliant And Barbed Memoir Of The Iraq War

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'Eat The Apple' Is A Brilliant And Barbed Memoir Of The Iraq War

Fresh Air

In his experimental new memoir, Matt Young conveys the chaos of his three deployments in Iraq. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Young "a frank, funny and mercilessly self-lacerating narrator."

'Eat The Apple' Is A Brilliant And Barbed Memoir Of The Iraq War

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Zadie Smith Ruminates On Brexit, Bieber And Much, Much More In 'Feel Free'
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Zadie Smith Ruminates On Brexit, Bieber And Much, Much More In 'Feel Free'

Fresh Air

Smith's massive new essay collection covers a wide assortment of topics, but critic Maureen Corrigan says Feel Free is strongest when it focuses on art and identity.

Zadie Smith Ruminates On Brexit, Bieber And Much, Much More In 'Feel Free'

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'Self-Portrait With Boy' Explores The Narcissistic Ambition That Fuels Success
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'Self-Portrait With Boy' Explores The Narcissistic Ambition That Fuels Success

Fresh Air

An artist's photograph of a young boy's death leads to a terrible dilemma in Rachel Lyon's new novel. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls the book a "striking debut."

'Self-Portrait With Boy' Explores The Narcissistic Ambition That Fuels Success

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3 Harlem Renaissance Novels Deliver An Ingenious Take On Race
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3 Harlem Renaissance Novels Deliver An Ingenious Take On Race

Fresh Air

Novelists Nella Larsen, Wallace Thurman and George S. Schuyler forged their art in what W.E.B. Du Bois famously called the "double-consciousness" of African-Americans.

3 Harlem Renaissance Novels Deliver An Ingenious Take On Race

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