News on Books

"The Rent Collectors" by Jesse Katz tells the true story of two botched gang murders, and the immigrants stuck between the police and the gangs that run their downtrodden LA neighborhood.

The dictators of today aren't united by ideology, writes Anne Applebaum: They operate like companies, focused on preserving their wealth, repressing their people and maintaining power at all costs.

Chu takes his inspiration from his dad, a Chinese immigrant who worked both the front room and the kitchen of their family-run restaurant: "The guy that in the back of the kitchen, that was my hero."

Dinaw Mengestu's ingenuity and eloquence as a writer are on display in this novel about an Ethiopian American man who returns home only to learn that his father has just died.

As a kid, Sabrina Imbler loved the ocean. They'd swim and snorkel, following around parrotfish in the water. Later, they tried to learn everything they could about the brightly-colored tropical fish – how some create a mucus cocoon at night to protect it from parasites, or how they help keep coral reefs healthy.

As they got older, their fascination with sea creatures only grew. Imbler released a collection of essays in 2022 called How Far The Light Reaches: A Life In Ten Sea Creatures. Each chapter focuses on a different marine species – from yeti crabs near hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to the morphing abilities of cuttlefish. Often, these creatures act as a mirror for Imbler to explore parts of their own identity.

Want more on the wonders of the deep sea? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with film director Jon Chu about his new memoir Viewfinder. Chu is best known for his 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians.

Autocracy, Inc. author Anne Applebaum says that today’s dictators — including Putin and Xi — are working together in a global fight to dismantle democracy, and Trump is borrowing from their playbook.

In her fierce second novel, Sarah Manguso writes a requiem for a failed relationship from the point of view of a survivor, the wife left behind.

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Andrea Freeman, author of "Ruin Their Crops to the Ground," about food policy in the U.S. from the Revolutionary War to the present.

A sensitive monk, a charming mercenary, and the contested bones of St. Nicholas: NPR's Scott Simon talks with M.T. Anderson about his rollicking comic novel, "Nicked."