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Yaa Gyasi
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FROM Yaa Gyasi
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The difference between being African in America and African-American The novel “Homegoing” starts with the slave trade in colonial Ghana, and traces that trauma through generations of Africans and African Americans.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Yaa Gyasi's 'Homegoing' What’s the difference between being African in America and African American? Is there a difference? Novelist Yaa Gyasi tackles those questions and more in her new novel “Homegoing.” It follows two lines of the same family, beginning with two sisters on the west coast of Africa in the 1700s. One marries a white British slave trader and stays in Africa. The other is sold into slavery by a rival African tribe and ends up in America. Each subsequent chapter is told from the point of view of their descendents, switching from the African side to the American side of the family and unfolding down the family tree to the present day. The book explores how that the slave trade haunts each generation on both continents.
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Accusations of lying fly between James Comey and White House During his testimony Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey accused President Trump and other White House officials of lying when they said the FBI was in disarray and its staff had lost confidence in him. President Trump’s lawyer said Comey was wrong -- that the president never asked for his loyalty, and never asked him to back off the investigation into former NSA director Michael Flynn.
Design and Architecture
Securing Public Spaces, Super Wealthy Asians Vehicles are increasingly being used as weapons, as seen in the London Bridge attack over the weekend and in New York’s Times Square last month. The Compton-based company Calpipe is designing security bollards to help make public spaces safer. And novelist Kevin Kwan satirizes the “crazy rich” Asian jet set and their luxurious tastes in his latest book, “Rich People Problems.”