The NPR Politics Podcast

Read about the impact of women in music with NPR's new book, How Women Made Music, A Revolutionary History from NPR Music. This stunning anthology offers original writing and illustrations, interviews, and photos.

And the audiobook includes 52 years worth of interview excerpts with more than 60 legendary artists.

Read about the impact of women in music with NPR's new book, How Women Made Music, A Revolutionary History from NPR Music.

This stunning anthology offers original writing and illustrations, interviews and photos.

And the audio book includes 52 years worth of interview excerpts with more than 60 legendary artists.

Celebrate the women who shaped music history with NPR's new book How Women Made Music from Beyonce to Odetta, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton.

This beautiful book is filled with interviews, original writing, illustrations, photos and more, also available as an audiobook featuring interview excerpts with legendary musicians.

Visit NPR.org slash How Women Made Music to pre-order now.

Celebrate the women who shaped music history with NPR's new book, How Women Made Music. From Beyonce to Odetta, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton, this beautiful book is filled with interviews, original writing, illustrations, photos and more.

Also available as an audiobook featuring interview excerpts with legendary musicians.

Visit npr.org slash How Women Made Music to pre-order now.

Celebrate the women who shaped music history with NPR's new book, How Women Made Music.

From Beyonce to Odetta, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton, this beautiful book is filled with interviews, original writing, illustrations, photos and more.

Also available as an audiobook featuring interview excerpts with legendary musicians.

Visit npr.org slash How Women Made Music to preorder now.

Celebrate the women who shaped music history with NPR's new book, How Women Made Music. From Beyonce to Odetta, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton, this beautiful book is filled with interviews, original writing, illustrations, photos and more. Also available as an audio book featuring interview excerpts with legendary musicians. Visit npr.org slash How Women Made Music to pre-order now.

He is a former Marine who wrote a bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.

J.D. Vance is the Republican candidate there. And of course, he wrote a really big book about the opioid crisis, Hillbilly Elegy, which was controversial.

J.D. Vance is in the race. He's the author of the bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.

Also running, another high profile person, the author of that bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy and there's been a movie made out of it, J.D. Vance.

It is so interesting, and maybe it's because a lot of people are currently slowly making their way through Barack Obama's memoirs of the same time period.

Support for NPR and the following message come from Crown, publisher of Barack Obama's A Promised Land, the first volume of his presidential memoirs. Obama reflects on the campaign that led to the White House and the early years of his presidency, navigating the challenges facing our nation at home and abroad. He shares portraits of his team, world leaders and cabinet and Congress members and describes his inspirations and quiet moments with family. A Promised Land is available wherever books and audiobooks are sold.

Support also comes from Crown, publisher of Barack Obama's A Promised Land, the first volume of his presidential memoirs. Obama reflects on the campaign that led to the White House and the early years of his presidency, navigating the challenges facing our nation at home and abroad. A Promised Land is available wherever books and audiobooks are sold.

Support also comes from Crown, publisher of Barack Obama's A Promised Land, the first volume of his presidential memoirs. Obama reflects on the campaign that led to the White House and the early years of his presidency, navigating the challenges facing our nation at home and abroad. A Promised Land is available wherever books and audiobooks are sold.

From Harry Potter. From Harry it is. They mixed up the Harry's. They confused them. That kid is a Weasley. Yeah, that's from Harry Potter.

From Harry Potter.

They confused them.

They mixed up the Harrys.

So I feel like that's supposed to make sense to me, but confession here, I have never read a Harry Potter book. Neither have I. No! Or seen a movie. Neither have you! Wow Aisha, we have that common alley.

This week, Harry's new book comes out. Of course, I tried to rush to my library site so I can put it on hold. I'm 83rd on hold. It's going to be a minute.

I chose audiobook because you hear him tell the stories like with his inflection and his tone and it just, it really feels like he's bringing you in and talking to you. Number 83 on the wait list. And in three years this is going to be your can't let it go again when you finally get the Harry book and listen to it.

I'm sure you all heard the news that Prince Harry has a memoir coming out. I assume you guys have heard that, right? ... But so this is why I'm so intrigued by this book, because I feel like we don't actually really know what's going on with the Royals ever. ... The book is called Spare. It's coming out in January.

Apparently Royals, and I credit our wonderful producers and editors for sharing this knowledge with me, but there's, you know, an heir to the King or the Queen, and then there's a Spare. Gosh, that sounds so harsh. ... I would never say that out loud, but I'm not Royal. So, um, you have two kids, they're very young Asma. ... I'm so intrigued because, you know, the Royals don't share a lot.

But this is why I'm so intrigued by this book, because I feel like we don't actually really know what's going on with the Royals ever. It's going to be some tellall, but there's a lot of anticipation for it. Book is called Spare. It's coming out in January.

I feel like again, I'm like outing myself as somebody who knows nothing about the Royal family. But what does Spare mean? ... And then there's a Spare. Gosh, that sounds so harsh. But so he's like owning, he's owning who he is, which is, you know, the Spare.

Here's how Jesse Wegman, who's the author of a book, Let the People Pick the President, explained it.

Here's how Jesse Wegman, who's the author of a book, Let the People Pick the President, explained it.

Here's how Jesse Wegman, who's the author of a book, Let the People Pick the President, explained it.

At the time of the founding, the biggest state was 13 times the size of the smallest state. Today, the biggest state is 70 times the size of the smallest state.

And I think that violation of political equality and that violation of majority rule is going to continue to haunt us through the Senate.

And also, if you take the population trends and just push them out on the graph to 2040, in 2040, we're going to have 70 percent of Americans being represented by 30 senators and 30 percent of Americans represented by 70 senators.

We are talking today to Elizabeth Hinton, author of America on Fire, The Untold Story of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s. We have a copy of it right here.

It is a book that looks at the scores of clashes, and that's putting it modestly, between black Americans and police that happened in cities across the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the legacy of those clashes.

It's a great book, America on Fire Again by Elizabeth Hinton. You can get it at bookshops. You can get it anywhere you get books.

Our next book club choice will be America on Fire by Elizabeth Hinton.

And now we announce our July pick, America on Fire, The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s by Elizabeth Hinton.

And he was, you know, quoting Orwell from 1984 and talking about Minnesotans needing to hold the line on democracy and to hold the line on decency and accountability.

He was, you know, quoting Orwell from 1984 and talking about Minnesotans needing to hold the line on democracy and to hold the line on decency and accountability.

Jane Austen turns 250 in December. And what better way to celebrate than reading her most famous book, Pride and Prejudice? This week on Books We've Loved, we explore Austen's seminal work with pop culture happy hours' Linda Holmes and hear from superfan author Casey McQuiston.

So what I can't let go of this week is this weekend is actually a very big weekend for fans of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie featuring Keira Knightley. ... I think I saw it at some point, read the books, like, you know, but it's not my thing, but, you know, I understand why. ... I watched it years and years ago, but now I was a Succession superfan, so I need to rewatch it so I can get the Matthew McFadden whiplash of Mr. Darcy and Tom Womskans. ... I would say for lovers of this movie, it is like, there's a whole subculture of people who are obsessed with this movie. I'm a member of that subculture, so I'm very excited.

the art of the deal. He wrote that book.

I think all of that's noted in her book, The Art of the Deal.

President Biden's son Hunter is out with a new memoir. It's called Beautiful Things and largely recounts his life in the most recent years and his battles with addiction.

Ron, you read the book, you reviewed it for NPR. And one of the things you note in your review is just how severe Hunter Biden's addiction was and how it's almost kind of a miracle that he's even still alive to write this book.

There's one point in the book where he describes how he woke up while he had been binging and woke up in midair behind the wheel of a car he had been driving. And he realizes that he has left the road and that he is airborne.

In Hunter Biden's memoir, it does give us at least his view of his family and specifically his father. It is hard to imagine a more admiring portrait.

One thing I thought about as I read part of the book is just maybe it speaks to how common addiction is as a problem in American family life, because Joe Biden is certainly not the first president to deal very publicly with an immediate family member with a drug dependency issue.

It's called Beautiful Things and largely recounts his life in the most recent years and his battles with addiction.

One of the things you note in your review is just how severe Hunter Biden's addiction was and how it's almost kind of a miracle that he's even still alive to write this book.

There's one point in the book where he describes how he woke up while he had been binging and woke up in midair behind the wheel of a car. He had been driving and he realizes that he has left the road and that he is airborne and he lands and rolls to a stop in the median strip of a freeway.

So there's a lot in the book about the depths of this addiction. First to alcohol, then to cocaine.

And in Hunter Biden's memoir, it does give us at least his view of his family and specifically his father, Joe Biden. It is hard to imagine a more admiring portrait.

Our latest pick is Why We Did It, a travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell by Tim Miller.

I didn't realize that everybody was already reading it along with you.

Well, your book is pretty savage to a lot of powerful Republicans.

you write about all these motivations in the book

I hope folks enjoyed it and I can take negative feedback, you know, too. I'm a big boy.

Our latest pick is Why We Did It, a travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell by Tim Miller.

I didn't realize that everybody was already reading it along with you. That's so exciting. Hopefully they enjoyed it.

Your book is pretty savage to a lot of powerful Republicans. One of the memorable things that you write early on is that you know this book would be cathartic for some liberals to read just to read a dunk fest essentially on people like Sean Spicer, other Republicans.

Your book talks about friends, colleagues, people you respect who went along with a man that you saw as morally abhorrent and you yourself, you're part of the push to get Scott Pruitt to be the EPA administrator.

It has been an absolute pleasure talking to you and a pleasure reading your book.

She's written about it in her memoir.

what I can't let go of is Michelle Obama and some comments that she made this week where she was in London and she was on stage talking with Stephen Colbert, promoting her book and her book Becoming, which has been a topselling book.

Hi, this is BJ. And this is Jack. And we just started reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

What an excellent quest to go on. It is 209 Eastern on Thursday, March 3rd. Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but we will still be on the way to the Lonely Mountain with Bilbo and his friends.

I've spent this period of social distancing getting reacquainted with my favorite thing of all time, the Lord of the Rings. I reread all the books.

The Crucible is a play by the famous American writer Arthur Miller. It's a partially fictional story about the Salem witch trials in colonial New England.

The most important thing was that you pick like a juicy metaphor, something that would really resonate. So I came up with The Crucible. That was my metaphor because I really liked witches and Arthur Miller and theater.

The most important thing was that you pick like a juicy metaphor, something that would really resonate. So I came up with The Crucible. That was my metaphor because I really liked witches and Arthur Miller and theater.

The Crucible is a play by the famous American writer, Arthur Miller. It's a partially fictional story about the Salem witch trials in colonial New England.

He wrote a book not just about the government gangsters, as he noted in the book title.

He wrote a children's book called The Plot Against the King that seemed to depict someone with blonde hair as the king, look like maybe President Trump. And, you know, somebody who looked like Nancy Pelosi as one of the people who was engaging in the plot against and someone who maybe looked like Kash Patel, who seemed to be the sorcerer behind the king.

And don't forget about the book, the children's book that he wrote, The Plot Against the King, which is all about in a plot to basically overthrow a king named Donald. Yeah, that has all very much resonated with the right and Trump's base.

This message comes from Simon and Schuster, publishers of How to Lead? Wisdom from the World's Greatest CEOs, founders and game changers by David M. Rubenstein. Learn the principles and guiding philosophies of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey and many others.

This message comes from Simon & Schuster publishers of How to Lead: Wisdom from the World's Greatest CEOs, Founders and Game Changers by David M. Rubenstein. Learn the principles and guiding philosophies of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey and many others through illuminating conversations about their remarkable lives and careers.

This message comes from NPR sponsor Simon & Schuster, publishers of The Upswing, How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again by sociologist and political scientist Robert D. Putnam.

Putnam's analysis of economic, social and political trends over the past century demonstrate how we have gone from an individualistic iSociety to a more communitarian weSociety and then back again, and how we can become a stronger, more unified nation.

The Upswing by Robert D. Putnam, wherever books are sold.

Support for NPR and the following message come from Simon and Schuster, publishers of The Upswing, How America Came Together A Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again by sociologist and political scientist Robert D. Putnam.

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the book is called The Family Roe.

He is the author of that book. The book is called The Family Roe.

I'm with Joshua Prager, author of The Family Roe. One notable thing about this book is so much of it takes place in Texas.

The subtitle of my book is An American Story.

One notable thing about this book is so much of it takes place in Texas.

Our next book for September is The Family Row by Joshua Prager.

On the season finale of Books We've Loved, we're hanging out with four friends looking for love in all the wrong places. We are revisiting Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale with Brittany Luce from It's Been a Minute.

On the season finale of Books We've Loved, we're hanging out with four friends looking for love in all the wrong places. We are revisiting Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale with Brittany Luce from It's Been a Minute.