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Talking Volumes

Talking Volumes is back for its 25th season. Join us at the Fitzgerald Theater for four special events with renowned authors, celebrating our anniversary with a special $25 ticket price for MPR members and Star Tribune subscribers. Buy tickets here.

August 18, 2021 3:23 PM

This book introduces you to the people doing your 'Dirty Work'

Author Eyal Press calls them "jobs of last resort" — slaughtering animals, working in prisons, engaging in remote drone combat. Society needs them but doesn't want to talk about them.

by Dave Davies

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August 18, 2021 12:24 PM

Laura Lippman's 'Dream Girl' is the latest thriller to center on stolen stories

Many of this year's mystery and suspense novels explore literary appropriation — characters in positions of privilege laying their sticky mitts on stories that don't belong to them.

by Maureen Corrigan

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August 17, 2021 12:14 PM

'Against White Feminism' is an urgent call to action for solidarity and justice

Although personal anecdotes are included throughout, Rafia Zakaria's aim is not to explore her own pain but to retrace the history of how white feminism has caused unending trauma through centuries.

by Jenny Bhatt

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August 17, 2021 9:25 AM

Sci-fi has changed a lot in the past decade — These 7 reads will show you how

This year's Summer Poll is all about the past decade in science fiction and fantasy, so we asked critic Jason Sheehan to come up with his own list of the new sci-fi that's blowing his mind.

by Jason Sheehan

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August 16, 2021 8:19 AM

The town that inspired John Steinbeck has a new literary star

Jaime Cortez's debut collection, “Gordo,” is set in and around the same dusty California town that inspired John Steinbeck. It's a lovely portrait of a time and place that still manages to be universal.

by Michael Schaub

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August 14, 2021 4:00 AM

Kaveh Akbar pits the self against the sacred in his new poems

Words can seem infinite — but language has limits. In his new poetry collection, “Pilgrim Bell,” Kaveh Akbar shapes language into prayer, into body, into patchwork — but only into what can be known.

by Jeevika Verma

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August 14, 2021 3:00 AM

If a Russian Doll looked into a Black Mirror ... you'd have this novel

In Sarah Zachrich Jeng's debut thriller “The Other Me,” a young woman wanders away from a boring birthday party and finds herself in a different life, with a husband and family she didn't have before.

by Bethanne Patrick

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August 12, 2021 2:56 PM

CIA role in Africa expanded as U.S. Cold War worries grew, 'White Malice' details

Though Susan Williams' book is framed far too expansively, it overflows with fascinating information, research and bold ideas — especially regarding Congo's first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba.

by Lily Meyer

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August 12, 2021 8:36 AM

'The Lorax' warned us 50 years ago, but we didn't listen

Call it fate or an unfortunate coincidence that Dr. Seuss' eco-parable marks its 50th anniversary just as the United Nations releases a report on the dire consequences of human-induced climate change.

by Elizabeth Blair

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August 12, 2021 8:24 AM

Tale of Tesla, Elon Musk is inherently dramatic and compellingly told in 'Power Play'

Perhaps most interesting in Tim Higgins' book are the hints at what might have been: Tesla could have built a plug-in hybrid, or sold itself to Google, or become a battery supplier.

by Camila Domonoske

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