Books
A graphic novel cookbook telling the stories behind some uniquely named Chinese dishes
A new graphic cookbook — complete with recipes and comic book-style illustrations — tells the backstories of the names behind some Chinese dishes. Author Ying Chang Compestine discusses the book with The World’s Host Carolyn Beeler.
Juneteenth offers a ‘window into the complexity’ of US history with slavery, says author
June 19 commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. But the legacy of African enslavement continues to reverberate in much of the world. Howard French, the author of “Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War,” speaks with host Marco Werman about the persistent damage in West Africa and beyond.
Can endangered languages be saved? This new book may have the answer.
New York City is home to over 700 languages, but some will soon cease to exist. Is there still time to save them? The World’s Carolyn Beeler talks to linguist and author Ross Perlin about his new book, “Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York.”
New book explores the life of psychiatrist and writer Frantz Fanon
Since the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of Frantz Fanon has been felt in fields as distinct as psychiatry and postcolonial studies. A new book explores the “revolutionary lives” of the psychiatrist, writer and anti-colonial rebel, whose understanding of identity evolved through his travel and experiences, including confronting colonial hierarchies as a person of color in postwar France, and eventually joining the Algerian War of Independence. Host Marco Werman learned more from Adam Shatz, author of “The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon.”
New book taps into the cultural history of eyeliner
For centuries, eyeliner has been seen as a staple, and often the only beauty item some women and men wear. In culture journalist Zahra Hankir’s latest book, “Eyeliner: A Cultural History,” readers learn how eyeliner isn’t just some superficial beauty hack and that in many cultures around the world, it has been revolutionized and popularized by people of color for medicinal purposes, authority and its cultural ties.
A food writer celebrates the tastes of her hometown: Lagos, Nigeria
New York Times food writer Yewande Komolafe grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. When she moved to the US in her late teens, she recreated her favorite dishes by memory. Now she celebrates her home town’s cuisine in her new book: “My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Diaspora.” Host Marco Werman speaks to Komolafe about what inspired her book.