Writer and illustrator Bruce McCall talks with Steve Paulson about why he hated the 1950s, and some of the fantasy cars he thinks the decade might have inspired.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
You wouldn’t think the novel “Lolita” would go over big in an underground women’s book club in Tehran. But literature, like the people who read it, has a way of surprising you. Azar Nafizi is the author of the celebrated memoir “Reading Lolita in Tehran.”
Novelist Erin Morgenstern has written a dark fairy tale for adults. At the center of the novel is a magical circus.
On a foggy summer night, eleven people depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet bound for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the plane plunges into the ocean and only two people survive. This is how the new novel, "Before the Fall," opens. It's one of the best suspense novels of the year. The author is Noah Hawley, who's made a name for himself as the executive producer and writer of the award-winning TV series, "Fargo." And yes, "Fargo" is inspired by the Coen Brothers' film of the same name.
Rehman here. This story quite literally hit close to home for me. I grew up just about an hour away from the suburb it takes place in, and until working on this story, I never would have imagined that building a mosque could be so controversial, especially in a place as cosmopolitan as Chicago. Standing under its massive dome, I was struck by the odd realization that a building could simultaneously be a haven and source of community for some, and symbol of fear and hatred for others. Though the story took place more than a decade ago, it seems we’re still wrestling with many of the same questions around religious inclusion and American identity.
Catherine Austin Fitts was the Federal Housing Commissioner and Assistant Secretary of Housing under the first Bush administration. She managed a Wall Street investment firm and is now president of Solari, Inc.
Tom Lutz talks about his book, "Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America."
Father Thomas Keating tells Steve Paulson why he believes everyone ought to practice contemplative meditation.
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