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Author Interviews NPR interviews with top authors and the NPR Book Tour, a weekly feature and podcast where leading authors read and discuss their writing. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Author Interviews

Ex-CIA Director On National Security, Post-Truth 'Assault On Intelligence'

Michael Hayden, former Director of the CIA and NSA, speaks at Nobel Week Dialogue: the Future of Truth conference on Dec. 9, 2017, in Gothenburg, Sweden. Julia Reinhart/Getty Images hide caption

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Julia Reinhart/Getty Images

Ex-CIA Director On National Security, Post-Truth 'Assault On Intelligence'

Michael Hayden's new book critiques the forces threatening the U.S. intelligence community, including President Trump, at a time he says the community's work has never been harder or more important.

Ex-CIA Director On National Security, Post-Truth 'Assault On Intelligence'

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Futureface

A Journalist Seeks Out Her Roots, But Finds Few Answers In The Soil

Fresh Air

Alex Wagner says the birth of her son made her want to learn more about her heritage. "I wanted to tell my son a story that was true," she says. Wagner chronicles her journey in Futureface.

A Journalist Seeks Out Her Roots, But Finds Few Answers In The Soil

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A Bill To Make Every American Bear Arms, In The Novel 'Big Guns'

Former Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., served in Congress from 2001-2017. He is pictured here in 2014. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

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Evan Vucci/AP

A Bill To Make Every American Bear Arms, In The Novel 'Big Guns'

Steve Israel's new satire imagines a world where the gun lobby holds enough sway to pass such legislation through Congress. As a former Democratic congressman, he knows the subject intimately.

A Bill To Make Every American Bear Arms, In The Novel 'Big Guns'

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Emergency Contact

In 'Emergency Contact,' Finding A Safe Space In Texts

Mary H.K. Choi's new novel follows Sam and Penny, both awkward and deeply damaged people, who forge a connection first through text messages and then in real life.

In 'Emergency Contact,' Finding A Safe Space In Texts

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Middle East

A Long Fight For Justice For Contractors In 'The Girl From Kathmandu'

Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with author and journalist Cam Simpson about his new book, The Girl from Kathmandu, about the life of contract employees from poor countries working for the U.S. in Iraq.

A Long Fight For Justice For Contractors In 'The Girl From Kathmandu'

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The Hellfire Club

CNN's Jake Tapper On McCarthyism, Trump And The 'Jar Jar Binks Principle'

Fresh Air

Tapper's new novel, The Hellfire Club, takes place in 1954 during Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Communist "witch hunt" — a time he describes as "very resonant" with the current political climate.

CNN's Jake Tapper On McCarthyism, Trump And The 'Jar Jar Binks Principle'

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'Insane': America's 3 Largest Psychiatric Facilities Are Jails

By some estimates, nearly half of the people confined in U.S. jails and prisons have a mental illness, notes Alisa Roth, author of Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness. Darrin Klimek/Getty Images hide caption

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Darrin Klimek/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

'Insane': America's 3 Largest Psychiatric Facilities Are Jails

Alisa Roth's new book suggests U.S. jails and prisons have become warehouses for the mentally ill. They often get sicker in these facilities, Roth says, because they don't get appropriate treatment.

'Insane': America's 3 Largest Psychiatric Facilities Are Jails

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Bring the War Home

Race

How America's White Power Movement Coalesced After The Vietnam War

Fresh Air

Author Kathleen Belew says that as America's disparate racist groups came together in the 1970s and '80s, the movement's goal shifted from one of "vigilante activism" to something more wide-reaching.

How America's White Power Movement Coalesced After The Vietnam War

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In 'The New Face Of America,' Journalist Alex Wagner Saw Herself

Alex Wagner is a co-host of The Circus on Showtime and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. Above, she speaks at the 69th Writers Guild Awards on Feb. 19, 2017, in New York City. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images hide caption

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Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

In 'The New Face Of America,' Journalist Alex Wagner Saw Herself

In 1993, Wagner saw a computer-generated face on Time magazine that reminded her a lot of her own. The journalist searches for answers about her own ancestry in her new book, Futureface.

In 'The New Face Of America,' Journalist Alex Wagner Saw Herself

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Pulitzer Prize Winner Gilbert King's Latest Book: 'Beneath A Ruthless Sun'

In the book, a white, mentally impaired man is falsely accused of rape in Jim Crow-era Florida and a journalist pushes to uncover the story. Noel King talks to King about Beneath a Ruthless Sun.

Pulitzer Prize Winner Gilbert King's Latest Book: 'Beneath A Ruthless Sun'

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Autonomous Weapons Would Take Warfare To A New Domain, Without Humans

The U.S. Army's Autonomous Remote Engagement System is mounted on the Picatinny Lightweight Remote Weapon System and coupled with an M240B machine gun. It's part of a program that reduces the time to identify targets using automatic target detection and user-specified target selection. U.S. Army hide caption

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U.S. Army

All Tech Considered

Autonomous Weapons Would Take Warfare To A New Domain, Without Humans

Former special operations agent Paul Scharre helped create U.S. military guidelines on autonomous weapons. His new book Army of None, looks at the advances in technology, and the questions they raise.

Autonomous Weapons Would Take Warfare To A New Domain, Without Humans

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Air Traffic

Books

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Reflects On 'Ambition And Manhood In America'

Fresh Air

Gregory Pardlo's new memoir, Air Traffic, chronicles his complicated relationship with his father, a labor organizer who lost his job following the air traffic controllers' 1981 strike.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Reflects On 'Ambition And Manhood In America'

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Goldberg's 'Suicide Of The West' Tackles Ills Of Identity Politics

Steve Inskeep talks to National Review senior editor Jonah Goldberg about his new book, Suicide of the West. Goldberg argues that the "miracle" of liberal democratic capitalism is at risk.

Goldberg's 'Suicide Of The West' Tackles Ills Of Identity Politics

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