Ocean Vuong's debut novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous placed him in an elite club of American writers. He teaches at NYU and is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, among many other honors. But before all this, the author was raised by working-class Vietnamese immigrant parents in Hartford, Connecticut. Vuong's new novel The Emperor of Gladness takes place in a similar environment and centers on an unlikely friendship between a 19 year-old college dropout named Hai and an 82-year-old with dementia named Grazina. In today's episode, Vuong joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation about reframing our view of the United States and the American dream, describing ugly things in a beautiful way, and Vuong's experience working in close quarters at a fast food restaurant.

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Multilevel marketing – or MLM – first became popular in the period that followed World War II. Since then, millions have tried their luck as salespeople for companies like Amway, Mary Kay, Cutco and Herbalife. MLMs offer themselves as low-cost paths to entrepreneurship, but very few of their participants are able to earn a living wage. A new book Little Bosses Everywhere by Bridget Read traces the history and culture of the MLM industry. In today's episode, Read speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about why this business model flourishes in economic uncertainty, the unregulated nature of the industry, and the blurred lines between MLMs and pyramid schemes.

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Tennis legend Rafael Nadal retired last year after a record-breaking career, one that included winning every major championship. In a new biography, Christopher Clarey – former tennis correspondent for The New York Times – considers the player's life and career, with particular focus on Nadal's domination on clay courts. In today's episode, Clarey joins Here & Now's Scott Tong for a conversation about the emotional side of Nadal's game, including the player's rituals and tics, his rivalries with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, and his early mentor in the sport.

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Original Sin recounts a number of moments during which former President Joe Biden allegedly struggled to recognize the people around him, like close aide Mike Donilon or longtime donor George Clooney. The new book by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson argues that there were two versions of the former president, one "functioning" and one "non-functioning." Biden's inner circle, they say, worked to shield the "non-functioning" version from the American public – and even other White House officials. In today's episode, Tapper and Thompson talk with NPR's Scott Detrow about the book and the Biden team's decision to "cover-up" his alleged mental decline.

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Pulitzer Prize-winner Dave Barry wrote a humor column for 22 years. In his new book Class Clown, he tells the story of the first 77 years of his life, spent embracing comedy – but also some difficulties. One focus of the book is his relationship with his parents. Barry writes that his mom was a kind of comedic mentor who possessed a uniquely dark, edgy wit, but also struggled with depression. And Barry's father was a Presbyterian minister and, he says, a famously good listener, but also developed alcoholism. In today's episode, the author joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation that touches on Barry's family, and also his concerns about new trends in the comedy industry.

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In light of the latest conflict between India and Pakistan, today's episode focuses on two books that examine India's ancient and recent history. First, ancient India was home to the exchange of goods and ideas that transformed the world, including the number system, heliocentrism, and Buddhism. In his book The Golden Road, historian William Dalrymple makes the case for India's centrality to the story of human civilization. In today's episode, the author speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about why this history isn't a larger part of our popular imagination. Then, we hear from Zara Chowdhary about The Lucky Ones, her first-person account of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat. In today's episode, she speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about the aftermath of the Godhra train burning, Prime Minister Modi's role in the incident, and the dangers of releasing her book in this political moment.

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James Gandolfini starred in The Sopranos for six seasons. The show, which ended in 2007, was considered an instant classic and permanently linked Gandolfini to his character, Tony Soprano. Gandolfini died in 2013, but a new biography tells the story of his life. In Gandolfini, Jason Bailey portrays the actor as an unlikely star who struggled after The Sopranos to grow as an artist. In today's episode, the author joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation about Gandolfini's path to HBO stardom, a famous pay negotiation, and the actor's struggle with personal demons.

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As a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Kevin Fagan embedded with the city's unhoused population. Now retired, he's written a book built around two of the people he got to know through his reporting. The Lost and the Found zooms in on the lives of Rita and Tyson, who ended up chronically homeless in San Francisco through a cascade of circumstances. In today's episode, Fagan speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about their stories, Fagan's own experience with poverty and housing insecurity, and the Reagan-era policies that led to an increased unhoused population in the 1980s.

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Julie Chan has an average life working as a cashier at a grocery store. But she's constantly getting mistaken for a famous influencer, her estranged identical twin Chloe. One day, Julie receives a mysterious phone call that results in her decision to swap lives with her sister, adopting Chloe's followers and the glamorous lifestyle that comes with them. That's the setup of Liann Zhang's debut novel, Julie Chan Is Dead. In today's episode, Zhang talks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about the author's own experience as a teenage "skinfluencer" – and Zhang's views on influencer culture today.

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While crafting her latest novel, Isabel Allende says she wanted to tell the story of the Chilean Civil War of 1891 from the perspective of a neutral party. She decided to make her protagonist a female writer who uses a male pen name and convinces an editor to hire her as a war correspondent. In today's episode, Allende joins Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes to talk about My Name is Emilia Del Valle. They discuss the feminist spirit throughout the author's body of work, their shared interest in pushing back against dominant narratives, and Fernandes' personal relationship to Allende's work.

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