Two new books explore how culture shapes our identity. First, Lawrence Burney's essay collection, No Sense in Wishing, is an appreciation of the arts and artists that shaped him as he grew up in Baltimore. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about his influences, from Gil Scott Heron to local Baltimore rappers. Then, Nora Princiotti's Hit Girls takes a serious look at the impact of female pop stars from the 2000s. In today's episode, she talks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about her obsession with millennial pop culture.
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NBN Book of the Day - Amir Hussain, “One God and Two Religions: Christians and Muslims as Neighbors” (Fortress Press, 2025)
Islam is a religion of violence and behind every Muslim there lurks a potential terrorist. Islam is a threat to values of the Christian West. They are like oil and water. Clearly, they don't mix.
One God and Two Religions: Christians and Muslims as Neighbors (Fortress Press, 2025) confronts these popular perceptions head-on. With keen insight and gentle understanding, Amir Hussain explores the differences between Christianity and Islam, as well as the many things these two enduring faith traditions hold in common - including, first and foremost, their belief in and desire to be faithful to the one, true God; their shared roots and scripture (from the Jewish faith); and the spiritual values of peace and social justice.
In all of this, the book invites the reader to a place of reconciliation, to a place where the truth and value of each of these great faith traditions can be recognized and honored by the other. In the end, the metaphor of oil and water is an interesting one for the reality of conflict and the hope for reconciliation between Islam and Christianity today.
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NPR's Book of the Day - After 20 years, Mary Jo Bang has completed her translation of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’
About 20 years ago, Mary Jo Bang read a poem that inspired her to take on a translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. At first, she began with just three lines – but two decades later, she's completed all three parts: "Inferno," "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso." In today's episode, she joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation about translating Dante into contemporary language, why English is a "rhyme-poor" language, and the parallels between Dante's journey and her own.
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NBN Book of the Day - Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna, “The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want” (Harper, 2025)
Is artificial intelligence going to take over the world? Have big tech scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to put authors, artists, and others out of business? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything?
Linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make clear that kind of thinking is a symptom of a phenomenon known as “AI hype.” Hype twists words and helps the rich get richer by justifying data theft, motivating surveillance capitalism, and devaluing human creativity in order to replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. In The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want (Harper, 2025), Bender and Hanna offer a, and wide-ranging take-down of AI hype across its many forms. They show you how to spot AI hype, how to deconstruct it, and how to expose the power grabs it aims to hide. Bender and Hanna expose AI hype for what it is: a mask for Big Tech’s drive for profit, with little concern for who it affects.
Alfred Marcus is Edson Spencer Professor at the Carlson School.
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NPR's Book of the Day - Mark Kurlansky’s novel ‘Cheesecake’ was inspired by a recipe from ancient Rome
In Mark Kurlansky's novel Cheesecake, a Greek family living on Manhattan's Upper West Side sets out to follow a recipe dating back to ancient Rome. What results is a block-wide battle to make the best cheesecake, set against the backdrop of a quickly-changing neighborhood. In today's episode, Kurlansky talks with NPR's Scott Simon about coming across the oldest written recipe, the food writer's relationship to fiction, and Kurlansky's own favorite cheesecake.
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PBS News Hour - Art Beat - Branden Jacobs-Jenkins on the inspiration for ‘Purpose,’ his Tony-winning family drama
It’s been a successful few months for 40-year-old writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and his play, “Purpose,” which won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown spoke with him recently at Broadway’s Hayes Theater for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
NBN Book of the Day - Audrey Truschke, “India: 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent” (Princeton UP, 2025)
Much of world history is Indian history. Home today to one in four people, the subcontinent has long been densely populated and deeply connected to Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas through migration and trade. In this magisterial history, Audrey Truschke tells the fascinating story of the region historically known as India--which includes today's India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and parts of Afghanistan--and the people who have lived there.
A sweeping account of five millennia, from the dawn of the Indus Valley Civilization to the twenty-first century, this engaging and richly textured narrative chronicles the most important political, social, religious, intellectual, and cultural events. And throughout, it describes how the region has been continuously reshaped by its astonishing diversity, religious and political innovations, and social stratification.
Here, readers will learn about Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Sikhism; the Vedas and Mahabharata; Ashoka and the Mauryan Empire; the Silk Road; the Cholas; Indo-Persian rule; the Mughal Empire; European colonialism; national independence movements; the 1947 Partition of India; the recent rise of Hindu nationalism; the challenges of climate change; and much more. Emphasizing the diversity of human experiences on the subcontinent, the book presents a wide range of voices, including those of women, religious minorities, lower classes, and other marginalized groups.
You cannot understand India today without appreciating its deeply contested history, which continues to drive current events and controversies. A comprehensive and innovative book, India is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the past, present, or future of the subcontinent.
Audrey Truschke is professor of South Asian history at Rutgers University, Newark. She is the bestselling author of Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King and other books.
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NPR's Book of the Day - In her new memoir, Hala Alyan searches for home amid a family history of exile
Palestinian American writer Hala Alyan has a personal history of exile. Over the years, the author and her relatives have been displaced from their homes in Gaza, Kuwait, and Lebanon – and she says it's difficult to fully separate herself from these places. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Leila Fadel about her new memoir I'll Tell You When I'm Home, which contends with themes including exile, infertility, surrogacy, and motherhood.
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PBS News Hour - Art Beat - Top books to read this summer, according to Ann Patchett and Maureen Corrigan
With summer in full swing, you may be wondering what books to take along on vacation or enjoy right at home. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown has answers to that question from two of our regulars, Ann Patchett and Maureen Corrigan. It's for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
NPR's Book of the Day - Aisling Rawle’s ‘The Compound’ follows characters on a semi-dystopian reality TV show
Aisling Rawle's The Compound explores reality television as a kind of dystopia. In the novel, a group of men and women live on a compound in the middle of a desert, where they participate in house competitions and vie for personal awards. In today's episode, Rawle joins NPR's Pien Huang for a conversation that touches on binge-watching Love Island as research, how the author came up with The Compound's rules and rewards, and how her characters perceive their own desirability.
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