Rachel Kushner's new novel, Creation Lake, has all the makings of a great spy thriller: a cool and unknowable secret agent, a mysterious figure who communicates only by email and a radical commune of French eco-activists. Kushner has said that some of these elements were, in fact, inspired by real-world stories of espionage and her own access to the social and political worlds of activist communes. In today's episode, Kushner speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the murky boundaries of being an undercover agent–and a writer.
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In 1961, Michael Rockefeller, an heir to one of the greatest fortunes in the world, disappeared on an art-collecting trip off the coast of the island of New Guinea.
For decades, the family simply assumed that he accidentally drowned off the coast in an attempt to rescue his anthropologist colleague.
However, in the decades since he disappeared, more information may have come forward about exactly what happened, and it may not have been a simple drowning.
Learn more about Michael Rockefeller and the possible grizzly truth about his disappearance on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Located between Canada and the United States is one of the largest bodies of freshwater in the world, Lake Superior.
Lake Superior is the largest and deepest of the Great Lakes, and it is the first of the lakes in terms of water flow.
Despite being the largest of the Great Lakes, it has the fewest number of people living on its shores, yet it is one of the most important economically.
Learn more about Lake Superior, the big lake they call Gitche Gumee, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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New memoirs by former National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster and recovery advocate William Cope Moyers document conflicts of different kinds. In At War with Ourselves, McMaster contends with his years in the Trump administration and the political infighting he experienced at the White House. Moyers' Broken Open documents a more personal struggle with maintaining his sobriety 35 years into his recovery journey. In today's episode, McMaster talks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the three types of people he encountered at the White House–and what U.S. foreign policy would look like under a second Trump presidency. Later, Moyers speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about what happens when sobriety is jeopardized.
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As soon as money was invented, counterfeiting was invented soon after.
Counterfeiting has been around for as long as money, and as money has changed, counterfeiters have changed with it.
What used to be a relatively simple process has become a highly technical game of cat and mouse. Today, it is considered a crime in every country on Earth, but of course that depends on what currency you are trying to counterfeit.
Learn more about counterfeiting and the perpetual game of trying to stop counterfeiting on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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The Museum of Failures follows Remy Wadia, an Indian American ad executive who left India for the United States years ago. But when Remy returns to Bombay to adopt a child, he realizes things aren't as he left them. Remy's mother is ill, and soon, he uncovers a shocking family secret. Thrity Umrigar's novel, first released last year, is now out in paperback. In today's episode, Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes speaks with Umrigar about gender roles, parenthood and the psychic toll of leaving home.
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
Over 25 years ago, author Leslie Rasmussen connected with a stranger over challenges with their fertility. That friendship inspired her 2023 novel, The Stories We Cannot Tell, which follows two very different women who contend with excruciating decisions around their pregnancies. In today's episode, Rasmussen talks with NPR's Leila Fadel about her years-long fertility struggle, the difficulty of discussing the decision to terminate a pregnancy, and the political context surrounding her novel following the fall of Roe v. Wade.
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In 1908, a two-year-old boy named Puyi was installed as the 11th Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in China.
His life would prove to be radically different from that of any other Chinese emperor who came before him. He would see the end of Imperial China, become a puppet ruler for those who wished legitimacy, wind up in prison, and finally live out his final days as a commoner.
His personal story can be seen as a microcosm of the history of China during the 20th century.
Learn more about Puyi, the last Emperor of China, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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