The story of Saba, the protagonist of Leo Vardiashvili's novel Hard by a Great Forest, is much like the author's own. A young boy flees the Soviet Republic of Georgia with his father and brother as the country is ravaged by a war. Decades later, when his father goes back to their homeland and promptly disappears, Saba must face his family's past – and immense loss – in an effort to find him. In today's episode, Vardiashvili tells NPR's Scott Simon about being separated from his own family, and the feeling of time-travel he felt when he finally made his way back to Georgia.
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
March Madness is in full swing as Men's and Women's college basketball teams across the country compete for the NCAA championship. However, the Dartmouth Men's Basketball team made headlines just before the tournament for its successful unionization vote.
Today, we break down why the Dartmouth men are pushing to unionize and what a college athletics union could mean for the future of college sports.
Related episodes: The monetization of college sports (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Have you ever been trapped in a group chat nightmare, either grabbing the popcorn or wondering how to leave without causing a scene? Who’s the admin in your family group, and do they wield that power responsibly? Do you ever wonder if it’s appropriate to use emojis when talking to your boss?
The rise of instant messaging has made our social and professional lives faster, more casual — and more chaotic. But amid all the discussion of the effects of public social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, there has been relatively little attention paid to private social networks—the direct message and the group chat — and how they are shaping our relationships and our world.
In this series, Helen Lewis looks at the secret world of instant messaging, meeting a woman who married a chatbot, discovering how Russian dissidents are fighting a propaganda war, and hearing the inside story of how Britain ended up governed from a single WhatsApp group. It’s a strange new world where workplace rebellions are conducted through duelling emojis and military secrets are traded on chat forums about a video game . It’s also a world where you can never be quite sure who you’re talking to—and who’s eavesdropping on you.
Throughout history, there have been some truly remarkable people who have done some truly remarkable things.
One such person was Adrian Carton de Wiart. If you don’t know who he is, thanks, ok, because by the end of this episode, you surely remember his story, if not his name.
He was courageous, a little bit insane, and extremely hard to kill.
Learn more about Adrian Carton de Wiart and his incredible life on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
A new memoir by historian Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer and brother of Princess Diana, details a difficult childhood marked by alleged physical and sexual abuse at Britain's Maidwell Hall in the 1970s. In today's episode, Spencer tells NPR's Scott Simon how childhood naivete – thinking his parents were all-knowing authorities who must've known about the school's cruelty when they sent him there – prevented him and others from speaking up about what was happening, and why writing A Very Private School felt like an important reclamation of his boyhood.
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
Boeing's CEO Dave Calhoun has resigned and will step down at the end of the year. It comes after a series of mishaps with the aviation company including a door plug blowing off a 737 MAX 9 mid-flight. In today's episode, we turn to a head-hunter to explore what Boeing might look for in a new CEO.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
In the late 19th century, several of the world’s foremost investors engaged in a public battle for the future of electricity. The battle was fought in boardrooms and newspapers, and there was seemingly nothing that was off-limits.
The battle eventually took the lives of several people…..and several dogs.
Learn more about the current wars between George Westinghouse, Nikolai Tesla, and Thomas Edison on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
You might notice we're looking a little refreshed thanks to our new podcast logo. Today on the show, we ask some marketing experts what goes into building a strong brand, and whether our own makeover hits the mark.
Listeners, help us name our new Indi-Gator mascot! Email your suggestion to indicator@npr.org with "Indi-gator" in the subject line.