State of the Arts Blog

Great summer reads
NPR book critics, booksellers and readers offer their best bets for a literary escape, including thrillers, mysteries and science-fiction.
Is nudity obscene?
Why is it we can stare at sculptures and paintings of naked men, women and children in a museum, but to see the real thing is considered by many to be vulgar?
This week the hounds have their eyes on two one-person shows from the adult Korean adoptee perspective, a festival of ten minute theater pieces, and a cadre of refugee musicians from Sierra Leone who've become one of the most joyous live acts around.