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Why Secularism Is Good for the U.S.
David Niose, president of the American Humanist Association and author of Nonbeliever Nation: The Rise of Secular Americans, tells us about how secularism has always been part of America, but it's only now becoming a force to be reckoned with.
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Why Rabies Scares Us: PW Talks with Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy
Husband and wife writers Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy deconstruct one of the most fearsome viruses ever known in Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus. Talking with Tip Sheet, Wasik and Murphy tell us what scares us about rabies and how it has worked its way into our culture.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of July 16, 2012
This week, what rabies has to do with To Kill a Mockingbird, the new James Lee Burke novel, and the woman who figured out the ocean's floor. Plus: the growing group of "nonbelievers" in the U.S.
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Don Winslow's Top 5 Crime Novels
If you're looking for a good crime novel, Don Winslow's got a few picks for you.
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I Wish My Book Wasn't a 'Memoir': An Essay from Brian Castner
The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life that Follows is Brian Castner's chilling account of his years as a bomb technician in Iraq intercut with his life that followed, and how the two were irrevocably intertwined. Here, Castner writes about his struggles for truth in composing his book.
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Fairy Tales Gone Bad: An Excerpt from 'Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses'
In the dark and twisted fairy tales of Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses, Little Red Riding Hood confesses she wants to know what it's like to be eaten alive and Hansel and Gretel's parents want to kill them.
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Greater Than the Titanic: PW Talks with Steven Ujifusa
William Francis Gibbs's lifelong ambition was to build the biggest, fastest, safest liner ever. In A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the SS United States, Steven Ujifusa takes us back to a time when ocean liners captured the spirit and imagination of the world.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of July 9, 2012
This week, the greatest ship ever created, a psychologist who sleeps with the lights on, and Cheryl Strayed's "Dear Sugar" columns collected. Plus: the newest from the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
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How Humor Beats Anxiety: PW Talks with Daniel Smith
Daniel Smith's Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety is his attempt to wrestle his own anxiety to the ground, tracing it to its roots and dissecting it with humor and wit. He talked with PW about the many flavors of anxiety and getting needles in his armpits.
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Excerpt: 'Gold' by Chris Cleave
The author of Little Bee returns with a thrilling novel set in the world of professional cycling. Read the book's opening here.
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Surviving a Great White Attack
In August 1998, Jonathan Kathrein was surfing in the southern end of Stinson Beach when he was attacked by a great white shark. Here, he writes about his terrifying experience.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of July 2, 2012
This week: The author of Little Bee tackles the world of professional cycling, Harvey Pekar tackles Israel, and a book explains why brain damage makes us "very, very randy."
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Mother & Daughter Coauthors: Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer Talk to PW
Can an author who has sold millions of books learn from her daughter about writing? For the mother-daughter author team of Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, writing Between the Lines was enlightening for each in different ways.
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The War Within the War: PW Talks with Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Little America: The War Within the War in Afghanistan is an in-depth account and indictment of President Obama's 2009 surge in Afghanistan. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, senior correspondent and associate editor of The Washington Post, talked with PW about where we go from here.
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Excerpt: 'The Age of Miracles'
Poised to be one of the hot books of the summer, The Age of Miracles is the terrifying and gripping debut from Karen Thompson Walker about a day when the earth's rotation begins slowing, hurling the planet into disarray. Take an early look at the book's opening here.
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The Rules for Suspense Writing
Heather Gudenkauf knows her way around a gripping suspense yarn. Take notes, because she's sharing her secrets with Tip Sheet.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of June 25, 2012
This week: the book everyone will be (rightfully) talking about, The Age of Miracles. Plus, memoirs on both cooking and cycling, and a psychological thriller set on a mysterious island.
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Treating Books Badly: PW Talks with Donald Antrim
In Donald Antrim's hilarious debut novel, Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, violence is everywhere. A dismembered body must be scatter-buried, books are thrown at Claymore mines in the local park, and a 1:32-scale "Portuguese interrogation chamber" is built in a residential basement. PW talked with Antrim about treating books badly and writing the old fashioned way.
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Iraq in the Berkshires: PW Talks with Joshua Henkin
The World Without You is a family drama set during the course of the Fourth of July weekend in 2005. PW talked with author Joshua Henkin about working with a big cast and that old Tolstoy saw about unhappy families.