Joyce Maynard's new book, How the Light Gets In, is a sequel to her 2021 novel Count the Ways, both following a family grappling with a tragic accident, its aftermath and the expectations they have for one another. In today's episode, Maynard speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about some of the big questions behind both books – "What is a typical family? What is a good mother? Is there such a thing?" – and why she feels it's imperative for her characters to live fully in the world, which means bringing politics and current events into their stories.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Amanda Holmes reads William Carlos Williams’s “The Last Words of My English Grandmother.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
One of the most difficult concepts for early thinkers to get their heads around was the idea of nothing.
Everywhere we go, all our lives, there is something. There is air and matter that surrounds us everywhere because if there weren’t, we wouldn’t be here.
Eventually, scientists and philosophers became comfortable with the idea of nothing and were able to study it. What they found was that nothing was actually something.
Learn more about vacuums and how the concept of it was accepted and then eventually created and put to use on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski (9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, Running from Cops) explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertigo; cops OD'ing from exposure to fentanyl – and discovers they’re far more connected than we realize.
From Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, this 7-part series forces us to grapple with the mysteries of our own minds, and reckon with a contagion that we thought was long dead, but may be the defining disorder of our time.
Follow Hysterical on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ at wondery.fm/Hysterical_FD.
Actor, producer and director Griffin Dunne grew up during a fascinating time in Hollywood history. In today's episode, he tells Here & Now's Emiko Tamagawa he remembers bowing goodnight to his parents' black-tie party guests, like his aunt Joan Didion and his father's friend, Billy Wilder. His new memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club, captures his family's story in a bygone era of the entertainment industry — including his sister Dominique Dunne's death at the hands of her boyfriend in 1982, and the way that tragedy changed her parents and siblings forever.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Just south of the United States and north of Guatemala is Mexico, a fact which I’m sure all of you know.
However, most people don’t know that much about Mexico. There are caricatures of Mexico, and many people are familiar with some of the tourist areas, but that’s about it.
In reality, Mexico is one of the world’s largest countries, and its unique geography has influenced its history and economy.
Learn more about Mexico's physical, cultural, and economic geography on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.