The Thread

The 20th season of Talking Volumes will feature interviews with Alice Hoffman, Saeed Jones, Tim O’Brien, Karen Armstrong, Lindy West and Tracy K. Smith.

Bookseller Annie Metcalf recommends a novel that offers a "sensual and bold exploration of female love and pain and appetite."

Téa Obreht's new novel is set against a familiar old West backdrop, but it tells a fresh story of two people, both haunted in their own ways — a tough frontier woman and an immigrant camel driver.

His new book 'How To Be Antiractist' is a manual to follow; the author writes that "being an antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination."

By celebrating those who applied the substance as a drug, Walter A. Brown aims to raise awareness — and to demolish what remains of the myth that scientific progress is driven by rigorous dispassion.

The poet laureate's collection tells a tale of a fierce and ongoing fight for sovereignty, integrity, and basic humanity. It's a plea that Americans take responsibility for what's done in our names.

Sarah Broom's childhood house is the fulcrum for her memoir about her large and complex family. But perhaps more important, it stands in for the countless ways America has failed African Americans.

The Koch brothers' wide-ranging influence is no secret. But rather than focusing on how they spend their money, Christopher Leonard presents a richly reported tale of how they got it.

Timothy C. Winegard has written a well-researched work of narrative nonfiction that tells a history of the world through the role mosquitoes — and mosquito-borne illnesses — have played in it.

Yoko Ogawa's novel takes place on a small island were objects — flowers, photographs, boats — are disappearing, and the mysterious "memory police" work to make sure they're eternally forgotten.