For the first few years that National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward was writing her new novel, Let Us Descend, she says she really struggled to tap into her main character. Annis is an enslaved Black woman who faces unsurmountable hardships – but she also finds deep comfort in the spirits and elements that surround her. In today's episode, Ward tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe why she needed to incorporate spirituality into the Southern hellscape Annis faces; and why as hard as it can be to read about slavery, it's also an act of memory and resistance.
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In the early 1960’s the Soviet space program was on a roll. They launched the first satellite into space. They launched the first man and woman into space. They conducted the first space walk.
Then, around 1966, everything changed.
The momentum they had ground to a halt, and the Americans quickly surpassed them in the space race.
What happened?
Learn more about Sergei Korolev, the most important Russian you probably have never heard of, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Hugo Contreras, the protagonist of Raul Palma's new novel, is a babaláwo; he can cleanse evil spirits. Except he doesn't really believe in the whole thing. So when he's able to strike up a deal with a debt collector – get rid of the ghosts in his house in exchange for a clean slate – he assumes he can mostly fake it. In today's episode, Palma joins NPR's Scott Simon to discuss A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens, and how the concept of debt – not just financial, but personal, too – stirs up a lot of trauma for Hugo.
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
Right now, you are listening to the sound of my voice on some sort of digital audio device. In fact, almost all of the audio you consume today was digitally recorded or edited at some point in the process.
But sound is inherently analog. How does sound, the movement of air, become converted into 1s and 0s?
…and once sound is digitally converted, how is it distributed, and how has the digitization of sound changed the business of music and audio?
Learn more about digital audio, how it works,, and how it changed how we consume audio on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Abraham Lincoln's leadership is often remembered for reaching across the aisle – he tried to find compromises even in the most divisive times. But as successful as he was in saving the union, Lincoln also spent a lot of time agreeing to disagree with those around him. In his new book, Differ We Must, NPR's Steve Inskeep examines Lincoln's life through 16 such confrontations. In today's episode, Inskeep chats with NPR's Scott Simon about how Lincoln strategically positioned himself on issues like slavery, abolition and democracy – even when his own best friend opposed his stances.
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
In 1605, members of the Catholic resistance in England hatched a plot that would have completely changed the political landscape of the country. They wanted to blow up the entire parliament and the king on November 5, which they thought would return a Catholic monarch to the throne.
The plotters got caught, and their demise has been celebrated for the last 400 years.
Learn more about Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot, and why the fifth of November is remembered, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Today's episode is all about artificial intelligence and its ever-growing role in our society. First, NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with tech entrepreneur Mustafa Suleyman about his new book, The Coming Wave, and why – as someone who's deeply involved in the world of AI – Suleyman insists it begs for regulation. Then, NPR's Chloe Veltman speaks with New Yorker cartoonist Amy Kurzweil about her new graphic memoir, Artificial: A Love Story, which recounts how the artist and her dad used her late grandfather's songs, photographs and documents to create a chatbot that resembles him.
Ola and Michael are, by all means, a power couple. They're both high-profile journalists, engaged to be married in a month, who wake up one morning to find Michael's name on an anonymous list of predatory men in media. In today's episode, author Yomi Adegoke discusses her new novel, The List, which was inspired by a similar document published online during the #MeToo Movement. She tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe how Ola and Michael's Blackness, online anonymity, and social media complicate – and challenge – Ola's personal and political convictions.