Dec 29 Watch 6:25 Poet Robin Coste Lewis evokes the black female form across history By PBS News Hour "Voyage of the Sable Venus," the first collection from Robin Coste Lewis, is the winner of this year's National Book Award for poetry. Lewis discussed her debut, her readers and her influences with Jeffrey Brown at the Miami Book Festival. Continue watching
Dec 23 Watch 7:31 6 of the best books to curl up with from 2015 By PBS News Hour What were the must-read books of 2015? Jeffrey Brown gets favorite picks from Daniel Pink, business writer and author of "Drive," and novelist Jennifer Close, author of "The Smart One."… Continue watching
Dec 08 Watch 6:20 Why Salem bought in to witchcraft hysteria By PBS News Hour In 1692, the colonial town of Salem, Massachusetts, became caught up in a fervor over alleged witchcraft. In her new book “The Witches,” Stacy Schiff explores what led a group of Puritans to execute 19 people. She sits down with… Continue watching
Nov 27 Watch 7:03 How your cellphone is silently disrupting your social life By PBS News Hour Can a cellphone reduce the amount of empathy we feel for each other? In her new book “Reclaiming Conversation,” author Sherry Turkle argues that technology is creating the illusion of togetherness, while reducing actual communication and connection. She joins Jeffrey… Continue watching
Nov 23 Watch 7:13 How the Islamic State rose from prison to be a global group By PBS News Hour Where did the Islamic State come from? Joby Warrick, author of "Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS," joins Jeffrey Brown to define the militant group’s origins and its transformation into an international organization. Continue watching
Nov 11 Watch 6:25 Author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar turns his powers of observation to Sherlock’s brother By PBS News Hour Mycroft Holmes is the elusive and possibly more intelligent older brother of Sherlock Holmes. Now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -- NBA All-Star, writer and Arthur Conan Doyle devotee -- has co-authored a novel about the lesser known but no less intriguing brother… Continue watching
Nov 09 Watch 6:02 Gloria Steinem’s advice to young women: Listen to yourselves, not to me By PBS News Hour Gloria Steinem, writer, editor and feminist activist, has been at the forefront of the women's movement for more than half a century. Much of her life has unfolded on the road, from her childhood with an itinerant family to years… Continue watching
Nov 05 Watch What did Bush 41 think of his son’s presidency? New bio reveals By PBS News Hour In writing “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,” Jon Meacham was given unprecedented access to the Bush family and their personal diaries. Judy Woodruff sits down with Meacham to talk about what he learned about… Continue watching
Nov 03 Watch Why novelist John Irving’s latest protagonist is a fiction writer By PBS News Hour In novelist John Irving’s new book, “Avenue of Mysteries,” a poor child in Mexico picks up books from out of the trash and grows up to be a prominent American writer. Irving joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss what distinguishes his… Continue watching
Nov 02 Watch 7:20 For Elvis Costello, eclectic taste and self-reinvention started at home By PBS News Hour For British rock star Elvis Costello, music is in his blood. How did his family, like his jazz musician father, influence him while he found his own path as an artist? He joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss his new memoir,… Continue watching