Books

The author's new book, about a fifteen year old girl's longing for adventure, takes the form of a memoir -- but the story is invented. Schwartz joins Fresh Air to talk about her protagonist's sexuality and the boundless power of fiction.

Book critic John Leonard says the historian's newest work, called Citizen, is intellectually reprehensible, ignoring both past and present scholarship to craft a familiar and tired narrative of French democracy. Yet the writing is lovely, and propelled Leonard to the end of the book, kicking and screaming.

Christa Wolf's new autobiographical novel juxtaposes the protagonist's worries over her brother's forthcoming brain surgery with the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Book critic John Leonard says, despite the book's emotional darkness, Wolf's book is a flicker of light.

Kingston wrote two dreamlike memoirs before publishing a novel, Tripmaster Monkey. The story follows a Chinese American grad student in the 1960s who is as influenced by Chinese literature as he is Beat culture. Book critic John Leonard calls it brilliant.

Film mogul Samuel Goldwyn's son gave permission to A. Scott Berg to write the movie producer's biography. Berg says the elder Goldwyn entered the United States illegally, and later built himself by working at a glove factory before helping develop the studio system.

Tim Cahill writes for Outside and Rolling Stone about his adventure traveling. His humorous columns have been collected in a new book called A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg. Cahill joins Fresh Air to talk about some of his more memorable trips.

Book critic John Leonard says that Warner's third novel is her best. The book, about a family coping with the loss of its patriarch, succeeds because it questions ideas as much as it advances them.

Sautter says that, in order to break into the industry, aspiring television writers need to craft better material than what they see on air. His new book explains the mechanics and unspoken rules of scriptwriting.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone says none of Stuart's past work could have prepared her for his newest novel. The story is narrated by a troubled adolescent boy who grapples with the incestual relationship between his father and sister.

Scholar Kathryn Montgomery says that deregulation in the late 1980s has led to the rise of different advocacy groups who seek to influence television programming, often by targeting advertisers. Her new book, Target: Prime Time, explains how both minority and religious groups have mobilized in recent years.