Today's episode features two books that capture how cooking, taking care of loved ones, and running a home has sustained women for generations. First, NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Helen Rebanks (who is joined by actor and comedian Nick Offerman) about The Farmer's Wife, which chronicles her life as a homemaker and farmer in England. Then, Here & Now's Celeste Headlee speaks with former Kentucky poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson about Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, which stretches back into Wilkinson's family history to understand how Black women were the unsung heroes of Appalachia.
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
Israel has long raised money from individual supporters living overseas through a tool called diaspora bonds. This financing tool is part patriotic gift and part investment. Today, we look at how diaspora bonds work and how Israel is making use of them for its war effort.
With permission from the Orwell estate, Sandra Newman's latest novel takes place in the same world and with many of the same characters as 1984, but retold through the eyes of Winston Smith's love interest, Julia. It's a deep exploration of women's experiences under totalitarianism, and as Newman tells NPR's Scott Simon, an appreciation of the original that doubles down on some of Orwell's humor and ability to capture the psyche of fear — and unexpected comfort — under political tyranny.
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
Hike near Leona Heights in Oakland, and you might come across vibrant graffiti art painted on the concrete remnants of an old conveyor tram that transported rock down the hill. This week on the show, reporter Katherine Monahan reveals the history of this place, and talks to artists who have transformed it into an art gallery hidden in the woods.
This story was reported by Katherine Monahan. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Alex Gonzalez, Dan Brekke, Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Joshua Ling, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.
Once every 1461 days, sometimes, we have a day on the calendar that we don’t normally have.
This extra day is a necessity if our calendars are kept in sync with the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, but it also can cause problems with people and computers.
Nonetheless, whatever problems it might cause are far less than some of the alternatives, which would require leap weeks and even leap months.
Learn more about leap years and the significance of February 29 on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
From "Hot Labor Summer" to "Striketober," 2023 was another big year for workers joining picket lines. Today on the show, we'll dig into two recent reports that shed light on the state of labor unrest in the U.S.. We'll look at what industries are driving this trend, how workers are feeling about their jobs and what that says about the American labor movement.
Journalist and former CNN anchor Hala Gorani tells NPR's Leila Fadel that she has a whole paragraph queued up to answer a seemingly simple question: Where are you from? Gorani's memoir, But You Don't Look Arab, unpacks her many roots across Istanbul, Syria, France and the U.S. — and grapples with how her identity and its impact on her work have been scrutinized for decades. In today's episode, she opens up about why she had to change her name and add a photo of herself to her passport to land a job in journalism, and why constant movement can offer an odd sort of comfort for her.
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
Super Bowl ads this year relied heavily on nostalgia and surprise –– a few tricks that turn out to embed information into our brains. Today, neuroscientist Charan Ranganath joins the show to dissect the world of marketing to its biological fundamentals and reveal advertisers' bag of tricks.