Today's episode focuses on two summer reads trying to piece together some pretty big questions. First, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with J. Courtney Sullivan about The Cliffs, which follows an archivist digging through the history of a seaside Victorian house in Maine — and the generations of women who lived there — at the owner's concern that it's haunted. Then, NPR's Scott Simon asks Liz Moore about The God of the Woods, which grapples with the disappearance of a wealthy family's daughter from a summer camp in the Adirondacks in 1975.
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I would say that there is a very good chance that almost everyone listening to the sound of my voice right now is wearing something made of cloth.
Cloth, textiles, and fabrics go back a very long way, but despite their ancient origins, not every culture had them.
Yet, where they existed, they were often some of the most valuable commodities, and they were, in some fashion, used by everyone from rich to poor.
Learn more about cloth, textiles, and fabrics, their origin, and how they’ve changed throughout history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
In 2018, Jennifer and Sarah Hart drove off a cliff in California, killing themselves and their six adopted children. While much of the media attention focused on the two women, reporter Roxanna Asgarian set off to investigate what had happened to the children's birth families, and why they'd been removed from their care. In today's episode, Asgarian speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about her book, We Were Once a Family, and the ways the foster care and child welfare system in the United States pushed the Hart siblings into an abusive and ultimately fatal situation.
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 the year 53 BC, Rome suffered one of the greatest military defeats in its history. A Roman army led by Marcus Lucinisu Crassus was led into the desert in present-day Southern Turkey and was systematically destroy by an army from the Kingdom of Parthia.
The defeat itself didn’t radically weaken Rome, but the death of Crassus led to a chain of events that would result in the end of the Roman Republic.
It was also the opening salvo in a centuries-long rivalry between Rome and Parthia that would never be definitively resolved.
Learn more about the Battle of Carrhae and how the role it played in the destruction of the Roman Republic on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
These days the Walt Disney Company is mostly a theme parks company. About 70 percent of its operating income comes from its parks and other experiences like Disney Cruises. But the parks do something else: they help the company attach itself to our emotions, memories, and identities. How can Disney continue to strengthen this relationship in an era where data - not whimsy, fantasy, or even original IP - shapes so much of how we experience the world?
This week, former President Donald Trump announced that Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance will be his running mate in the 2024 election. Vance rose to prominence with his bestselling 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which captured his upbringing in Appalachia and his family's intergenerational struggle with poverty, substance abuse and trauma. In today's episode, we revisit a conversation between Vance and NPR's Steve Inskeep about the book, in which he says there are ways politicians misunderstand white, working-class Americans.
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
Located between China and India, Pakistan, Buthan, and Nepal is the world’s highest chain of mountains, The Himalayas.
The Himalayas aren’t just very tall, picturesque mountains that are the home of Mount Everest. They are perhaps the most important mountain range on Earth.
The Himalayas serve as the source of several of the world’s most important rivers. It is responsible for weather patterns throughout much of Asia, and it has served an important role throughout history in trade, religion, and geopolitics.
Learn more about the Himalayas, how they were formed and the role they play in the world today on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.