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The Nazis Next Door

How Thousands Of Nazis Were 'Rewarded' With Life In The U.S.

November 5, 2014 • After World War II, thousands of Nazis became informants in the Cold War against the Soviet Union — and then got entry into the U.S. Eric Lichtblau's new book, The Nazi Next Door, tells the story.

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Carlos Santana visits NPR for an interview about his new memoir The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light.

Carlos Santana visits NPR for an interview about his new memoir The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light. Maggie Starbard/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Maggie Starbard/NPR

Michel Martin, Going There

Carlos Santana: 'I Am A Reflection Of Your Light'

November 4, 2014 • Musician Carlos Santana shares his journey from a difficult childhood in Mexico to international stardom in the new memoir, The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light.

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cover

cover McSweeney's hide caption

itoggle caption McSweeney's

Picking The Locks: Redefining Copyright Law In The Digital Age

November 3, 2014 • In his new book, Cory Doctorow shows creators how to survive in the digital age. He says the problem with copyright law is tech platforms have more control over content than the people who make it.

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No Land's Man

Aasif Mandvi On Life As A 'No Land's Man' And Impressing Jon Stewart

November 3, 2014 • The Daily Show correspondent was born in India, raised in England and moved to Florida as a teen. His new essay collection reflects on his acting career and his life as an immigrant.

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Leningrad

Music

Amid Hunger And Cold, An Unforgettable Symphony Premiere

November 2, 2014 • A year into the siege of Leningrad, a haggard group of musicians defiantly — and improbably — performed Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, which was dedicated to the suffering city.

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Faber's 'Strange New Things' Is A Tribute To His Wife

November 2, 2014 • Michel Faber talks about how he came to write his new novel, The Book of Strange New Things. It's the story of a husband and wife, separated by a huge distance. They're on different planets.

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According to biographer Anthony Flint, Le Corbusier (seen here in an undated photo) once proposed razing Paris' historic Marais neighborhood in order to give the dilapidated district a fresh start.

According to biographer Anthony Flint, Le Corbusier (seen here in an undated photo) once proposed razing Paris' historic Marais neighborhood in order to give the dilapidated district a fresh start. AP hide caption

itoggle caption AP

Like It Or Not, Architect Le Corbusier's Urban Designs Are Everywhere

November 2, 2014 • "He's blamed for urban renewal ... urban freeways, even countless suburban office parks," says Anthony Flint, author of the new Le Corbusier biography Modern Man.

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A Map of Betrayal

An Ambivalent Double Agent, Torn Between Two Countries

November 1, 2014 • Ha Jin's new spy novel resembles the story of the real-life Chinese agent Larry Chin — and echoes the expat author's own experiences. But, he notes, a writer's life is less political than a spy's.

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John Cleese got his first big break in London's West End and as a script writer and performer on The Frost Report.

John Cleese got his first big break in London's West End and as a script writer and performer on The Frost Report. Andy Gotts/Courtesy of Crown Publishing hide caption

itoggle caption Andy Gotts/Courtesy of Crown Publishing

'Comedy Is Extraordinarily Difficult': John Cleese On Being Funny

November 1, 2014 • John Cleese of Monty Python fame has written a memoir, So, Anyway ... , which brings him from boyhood in a quiet British town called Weston to the footlights of London and screens all over the world.

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Black Prophetic Fire

Reviving A Grand Tradition Of 'Black Prophetic Fire'

November 1, 2014 • African-American philosopher Cornel West's new book laments the decline of "prophetic" black leadership, lifting up examples of people who were willing to risk their lives in the service of the truth.

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Stephen King On Growing Up, Believing In God And Getting Scared

October 31, 2014 • "The more carny it got, the better I liked it," King says of his new thriller, Joyland. King talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about his career writing horror, and about what scares him now.

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Deep Down Dark

The Incredible Story Of Chilean Miners Rescued From The 'Deep Down Dark'

October 29, 2014 • Hector Tobar had exclusive access to the 33 miners to report his new book detailing the claustrophobic horror they faced when they were trapped for 69 days in 2010. The result is a doozy.

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Yes Please

A Candid Memoir From Comedian Amy Poehler? 'Yes Please'

October 28, 2014 • Poehler joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross to talk about fighting the body image "demon," being a "world-class snooper" and how she was once told that she had a "great face for wigs."

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The Secret History of Wonder Woman

The Man Behind Wonder Woman Was Inspired By Both Suffragists And Centerfolds

October 27, 2014 • Wonder Woman's creator, William Moulton Marston, had a secret life: He had a wife and a mistress and fathered children with both of them. Jill Lepore explains in The Secret History of Wonder Woman.

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The Penguin Book of Witches

The Serious History Of Hocus Pocus In 'Penguin Book Of Witches'

October 26, 2014 • In Colonial America, a witch was not a Halloween costume, but a criminal. NPR's Rachel Martin revisits this moment in history with Katherine Howe, editor of the new Penguin Book of Witches.

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Jim 1

Cartoonist Looks Back On Career Built On Unnerving Visions

October 25, 2014 • As a young man, Jim Woodring was looking for a sign — and he found it in a huge, green hallucinated amphibian. His new book of old drawings, Jim, includes many works inspired by such "apparitions."

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Hiding in Plain Sight

Novelist Nuruddin Farah: Facing A Blank Page Is 'Bravest Thing' A Writer Does

October 25, 2014 • Farah's latest is called Hiding in Plain Sight. It's the story of Bella, a Somali photographer living in Rome who gets drawn into the lives of her niece and nephew after her half-brother is killed.

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De Niro

The Life Of De Niro, From 'Mean Streets' To 'Meet The Parents'

October 25, 2014 • Shawn Levy's brick-sized new biography of screen legend Robert De Niro was produced without cooperation from the actor — but Levy says that just forced him to do better research.

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The Woman I Wanted to Be

40 Years Later, Diane Von Furstenberg's Wrap Dress Still Wears Well

October 24, 2014 • In her memoir, The Woman I Wanted to Be, Diane von Furstenberg says she owes her success to her mother, a strong, strict Holocaust survivor who called Diane her "torch of freedom."

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Patchett: In Bad Relationships, 'There Comes A Day When You Gotta Go'

October 24, 2014 • Ann Patchett got married and divorced young. To her second husband, she said: "I'll be true, I'll be faithful ... but I don't want to live together." Her book is This Is The Story of a Happy Marriage.

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U.S.

Lt. Alonzo Cushing, Hero Of Gettysburg, Awarded Medal Of Honor

1st Lt. Alonzo Cushing, shown in an undated photo provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society, is expected to get the nation's highest military decoration -- the Medal of Honor -- this summer, nearly 150 years after he died at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Europe

The Man Who Disobeyed His Boss And Opened The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989, 25 years ago this weekend. East Germans flooded into West Berlin after border guard Harald Jaeger ignored orders and opened the gate for the huge, unruly crowd.

Television

Discovery's Man-Swallowing Snake Stunt Stretches Credulity

Screen grab from the teaser for the Discovery Channel's Eaten Alive.

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