NPR Books We Love

In America, U.S.A., Princeton historian Eddie Glaude Jr. looks at the country through the lens of its previous anniversaries and centennials. "The divided soul of the nation is in full view," he says.

Summer is the perfect time to go back to great books that whizzed by in spring, including The Family Man, by James Lasdun, The Hill, by Harriet Clark and A Beautiful Loan, by Mary Costello

A stay-out-of-the-water beach read features a giant, sentient sea creature. NPR's Elissa Nadworny talks with Tessa Yang about her debut novel, "The Jelly Fish Problem."

So you want to ignite a reading habit this summer. How do you get back into the groove? We talk to reading enthusiasts for their best tricks — like allowing yourself to read wherever, whenever.

Satrapi's groundbreaking graphic novel Persepolis introduced readers to life in Iran during the Islamic revolution and the Iran/Iraq war. She died June 4, 2026. Originally broadcast June 2, 2003.

NPR's A Martinez speaks with CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti about his new book, TORCHED: How a City was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A.

Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil writes about the ascent of the first grunge band to sign with a major label and the death of lead singer Chris Cornell in his memoir, "A Screaming Life."

Musgraves' album Middle of Nowhere has the dramatic detail of good fiction. The same is true of Gary Stewart: I Am From the Honky-Tonks, Jimmy McDonough's portrait of a gifted but tragic performer.

The songbirds you see today are directly linked to the velociraptor, triceratops and T. rex.

Theo Baker's investigations for the Stanford University college newspaper eventually led to the resignation of then-president Marc Tessier-Lavigne.