Books

There are powerful economic messages to take from the careers of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, writes a University of Kansas professor. A new book lays out what their successes help us understand about the role of everyday women in the economy.

Edward McCabe helped establish an all-Black Kansas town on his mission to create a state inhabited and run by freed slaves. In a new book, author Caleb Gayle writes about how McCabe earned the nickname of "Black Moses" and what his quest for liberation meant.

The new book, "Sea of Grass," traces the history and future of the American prairie, laying out the stunning loss of grassland in North America and meeting the people fighting to bring it back.

In "Small Town Missouri," Caitlin Yager tours rural locales around the Show-Me State. Her goal was to "humanize" communities outside the big cities, as well as highlight niche attractions like historic spas and haunted sites.

The members say the Herzog Charitable Foundation, a Missouri-based organization dedicated to "advancing Christian education," has triggered scrutiny of their political beliefs and personal lives. That’s resulted in professional consequences, social media harassment and an investigation from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office.

Some artists shy away from using AI. Kansas City photographer and digital artist David Morris embraces it. Hear how a local creative harnesses AI to bring his vision to life, and where you can see it. Plus: A Kansas City bookselling icon is retiring after years of tracking down Black books and vinyl. Now, a new generation is stepping up to preserve her legacy.

A hair metal band recruited by the CIA, fake newlyweds and retellings of "The Great Gatsby" are among the stories selected by Up To Date's panel of readers as the best books to pick up this summer.

Derrick Barnes felt there wasn't wide enough representation of Black people in the books he read as a kid. The Kansas City native's new picture book, “I Got You,” is his latest effort to write characters who can "just be human," he says.

"Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder' by Rachel McCarthy James traces the foundational and violent role of the axe from prehistoric times to the present. And — yes — the infamous Lizzie Borden case does get a chapter, as do a pair of relatively recent Kansas City murders.

Gay rights activism at the University of Kansas was led in the 1970s by the Lawrence Gay Liberation Front, but it took 10 years and a lawsuit for the student group to gain official recognition. Now, Katherine Rose-Mockry, retired director of KU’s Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, has pieced that history together.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow joined KCUR's Up To Date to discuss his latest book, "Mark Twain," which paints a nuanced portrait of a complicated American author from the Heartland.

When the school year ends, the need for literacy support does not. Here’s help in finding in-person and online summer reading programs around the Kansas City area.