WBUR Newsroom Election 2008 CommonHealth Blog Boston Weather BBC World News NPR Top Stories NPR's Morning Edition NPR Topics: Books NPR Topics: Movies Fresh Air All Things Considered Marketplace Submit a Story Idea RSS Feeds Podcasts  Topics: Books An Age Of American Self-Loathing Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:51:00 -0400 NPR's Dick Meyer contends that, despite living in a time of relative peace and prosperity, Americans are "morally and existentially tired." In his new book, Why We Hate Us, Meyer diagnoses the problem. Real | Windows Michael Beschloss: Tales Of The LBJ Tapes Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:23:00 -0400 President's daily conversations shed light on the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, the progress of the civil rights bill and the escalation of the Vietnam War. Real | Windows Walter Dean Myers, A 'Bad Boy' Makes Good Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:15:00 -0400 Growing up, the only authors Walter Dean Myers read in school were white and British. But when he discovered Langston Hughes and Richard Wright, he realized that he, too, could be a writer. Now, Myers works to encourage the next generation. Real | Windows Going To The Dogs: Books With Bark And Bite Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:20:00 -0400 Dogs have long been a source of human fascination, companionship — and, sometimes, terror. These books featuring three very different canines offer a perfect way to wind down the dog days of summer. Real | Windows An Intensely Imagined Future In 'Inverted World' Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:12:00 -0400 Recently reissued, Christopher Priest's 1974 sci-fi classic, Inverted World, tells the story of a city built on rails and in perpetual motion. Jessa Crispin adds up the pieces of Priest's "tightly structured puzzle" and discovers a novel that stands up to the test of time. Real | Windows 'The Great Railway Bazaar' Revisited Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:32:00 -0400 After 30 years, thousands of miles, and dozens of books, Paul Theroux knows how to travel: By train. Decades after his classic, The Great Railway Bazaar, he takes that long, strange trip, again. Real | Windows The Legacy Of A Nation's 'Native Son' Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:20:00 -0400 A century after Richard Wright's birth, his books still resonate — both with his daughter, Julia, and with a new generation of fans, some of whom are just discovering the author. Real | Windows Pelecanos' New Book Takes A Page From The Past Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:01:00 -0400 Best-selling writer George Pelecanos says his newest thriller, The Turnaround, is based on an incident that happened in his neighborhood when he was 15. At the heart of the book is the idea that people never outlive responsibility for what they do. Real | Windows