Author Karen Joy Fowler thinks John Wilkes Booth craved attention – and that he's gotten his fair share of it. So her new novel, Booth, instead focuses on his family. Their history might surprise you, given how John turned out. His grandfather was a part of the Underground Railroad. Fowler told NPR's Scott Simon that because of all we know about Booth's family, the path that John took is one of life's great mysteries. And, no, she hasn't solved it.
The Earth is highly imbalanced. Some countries have more resources than others. Some have natural harbors, and some are landlocked.
Some consist primarily of deserts, and others have fertile farmland.
Some countries are islands, and some border many other countries.
These differences between countries result in each having a unique set of interests, desires, and abilities. This results in a system we know as geopolitics.
Learn more about geopolitics and how geography has shaped the density of countries on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Author NoViolet Bulawayo's new novel Glory is quite openly based on Orwell's Animal Farm and the 2017 coup in Zimbabwe that ousted then president Robert Mugabe. Horses rule the country, dogs are the military, cows, goats, sheep, and pigs are the everyday people. The government that has been in control of the country Jidada for 40 years has fallen to rebellion. But, as these things go, it quickly turns sour. Bulawayo told NPR's Scott Simon that "it is simply an issue of the leadership kind of forgetting [...] why the people they – that fought to serve – made the sacrifice that they did."
Almost every day, you might check the forecast to see what the temperature will be like in the near future or if it might rain.
When you hear a forecast, how exactly do they know what the temperature will be or if it will rain? Also, just how accurate are weather forecasts, and how accurate could they possibly be?
Learn more about weather forecasting, its history, and how it works on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
The United States has created many cultural institutions which have spread around the world. People all over the Earth have enjoyed and benefited from rock and roll, Hollywood films, and the Internet.
However, we’ve also created some things that have spread to other countries which, to be totally honest, are probably not our best look.
Learn more about Black Friday, the surprising history of the term, and how it manifests around the world today on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Poet Franny Choi knows that marginalized communities have been facing apocalypses forever. But in her new book, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, she uses their survival as a way to look forward. In this episode, she tells NPR's Leila Fadel how understanding that pain and resilience can ultimately be a source of hope. Then, former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins discusses his new collection of very short poems, Musical Tables, with NPR's Scott Simon – and gets into the complexities of how sometimes saying less can offer so much more.
If you are an American, you probably grew up hearing the story of Thanksgiving. How the pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution to establish a new life.
But who were the pilgrims really? Were they really persecuted? Why did they decide to cross the ocean? And how did they end up where they did?
Learn more about the pilgrims and everything that happened before the first Thanksgiving on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
