NPR Staff

NPR Staff appears in the following:

Nancy Pearl Scours The Shelves For Books You Might Have Missed

Friday, June 21, 2013

If you'd like your summer reading to take you beyond the beaten path, librarian Nancy Pearl is here to help. NPR's go-to books guru joins us regularly to reveal "under the radar" reads — books she thinks deserve more attention than they've been getting. Pearl talks with NPR's Steve Inskeep ...

Comment

For A Boy With Little, Learning To Love A Castoff Trombone

Friday, June 21, 2013

Gilbert Zermeno came from a big family who didn't have much. They lived on the plains of West Texas and got by on the $100 a week that Gilbert's father made working the cotton fields.

So when Gilbert wanted to join the school band in sixth grade, his parents had ...

Comment

'Blood & Beauty' Breathes New Life Into The Borgias

Thursday, June 20, 2013

In the 1500s, Italy is bursting with some of the most influential and vivid figures in history. Many — like Leonardo da Vinci, who balanced art and the sciences; Galileo Galilei, who turned his telescope to the heavens; and Niccolo Machiavelli, who calculated the ruthless politics of the day — ...

Comment

Ignoring Threats, An American Reports On His Native Mexico

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Alfredo Corchado, the Mexico bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News, has dedicated his life to investigating government corruption, murders and ruthless drug cartels in his native Mexico.

He received death threats multiple times, and doesn't feel safe, but he says he has "learned to embrace the fear." Corchado, an ...

Comment

Nina Totenberg Answers Your Supreme Court Questions

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

With the Supreme Court expected to hand down big decisions this month — including rulings on voting rights, affirmative action and same-sex marriage — we've been talking a lot behind the scenes about how the court works. So we asked you what ...

Comment

After A Marine's Suicide, A Family Recalls Missed Red Flags

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Last year, more U.S. service members took their own lives than died in combat. And despite the drawdown of troops from Afghanistan, the pullout in Iraq, and hundreds of new programs designed to help troubled servicemen and women, the number of suicides continues to rise.

Nicholas Rodriguez is one such ...

Comment

To Rebuild NYC's Beaches, A Native Plant Savings And Loan

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Across the New York region, people are still working to rebuild homes and businesses after the havoc wrought by Hurricane Sandy. But the storm also devastated the dunes and native flora of New York's beaches.

When the city replants grasses on those dunes, it will be able to draw on ...

Comment

Deadpan Humor And Childhood Fears Collide In 'The Dark'

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

If there's one thing kids are scared of, it's the dark. In his latest children's book, The Dark, Daniel Handler — who writes under the pen name Lemony Snicket — takes on darkness itself, with the story of a young boy who confronts his biggest fear. Handler is known for ...

Comment

A Hair-Touching Exhibit Touches Off A Range Of Reactions

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Antonia Opiah and her sister Abigail wanted to start a conversation about hair, but they ended up inspiring a protest. The controversy began with an essay that Antonia wrote for the Huffington Post in which she argued that no one should say, "Can I touch your hair?" without putting ...

Comment

Inside The Mind Of A Sociopath

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

What exactly is a sociopath? Many people might think of killers, criminals, the cruel and heartless, Jack Nicholson's character in The Shining.

That's the common wisdom. But it's being challenged by a new memoir, Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight. It's written under the ...

Comment

British Leader: Trendsetter, Or A Bit Too Casual?

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

British Prime Minister David Cameron is sometimes picked on for his privileged background, and at the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland, he sought to go casual.

Not only did he ditch the tie, as did other leaders, Cameron also shed his jacket and even rolled up his sleeves.

...

Comment

Spy Reporter Works Her 'Sources' To Write A Thriller

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Mary Louise Kelly used to cover the national security beat for NPR, but lately she's turned her attention to teaching and writing fiction. Her new novel, Anonymous Sources, follows rookie journalist Alexandra James as she investigates a shady banana shipment and a clandestine nuclear plot. The tale is ...

Comment

'Cows Save The Planet': Soil's Secrets For Saving The Earth

Monday, June 17, 2013

In her book Cows Save The Planet, journalist Judith Schwartz argues that the key to addressing carbon issues and climate change lies beneath our feet. Schwartz says that proper management of soil could solve a long list of environmental problems.

"The thing to realize is that while we think about ...

Comment

'Glee' Guy Matthew Morrison On His First Love: Broadway

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Long before became known as Will Schuester — the lovable Spanish teacher and show choir director on TV's Glee — Matthew Morrison was dancing and singing, garnering Tony nods for his work on the Broadway stage.

Through it all, there was one song he always kept at the ready: "On ...

Comment

Dr. Brazelton On Guiding Parents And Learning To Listen

Sunday, June 16, 2013

For the better part of the past century, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton has studied babies, helping change the way we think about and care for them — right from the time they take their first breaths.

The renowned pediatrician hosted the long-running TV show What Every Baby Knows, and has ...

Comment

A Posthumous Tribute To Guns From A Sniper Shot To Death

Sunday, June 16, 2013

A killing on a Texas gun range in February captured the headlines. The victim was Chris Kyle, considered by many to be the most deadly sniper in American military history.

The man who admitted to killing him was a veteran as well — a young, disturbed man who ...

Comment

Privacy Past And Present: A Saga Of American Ambivalence

Sunday, June 16, 2013

America's privacy concerns go back to the origins of the country itself. And in the wake of revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance activities, polls show the country has mixed feelings; Fox News, CBS News and Gallup all find that more ...

Comment

'Children' Of Iran's Activists Inherit Love, Loss And Longing

Sunday, June 16, 2013

In the late 1970s, activists in Iran had a brief moment of hope. The revolution had succeeded; the shah's repressive regime had been overthrown. But things quickly turned for the worse. The newly formed Islamic Republic threw vocal dissenters in prison, and in 1988, it quietly executed thousands of them.

...

Comment

Hanson Offers A Bold New 'Anthem'

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson achieved ubiquity in 1997 with "MMMBop," the mega-hit with the wordless, sing-along hook. But the brothers — aged 16, 14 and 11 at the time — had already been playing together for years. And they're still going.

Hanson's ninth studio album, Anthem, is out this ...

Comment

The Beatles' Defining Moment (Hint: It's Not 'Sgt. Pepper')

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Author Colin Fleming is an avowed Beatles superfan, but he has one deeply held opinion about the band that other fans might find heretical. In an essay in this month's issue of The Atlantic, Fleming argues that the Fab Four's most emblematic, "Beatle-esque" year was 1963, ...

Comment