Remembering Tony Horwitz

Plus: 'Biloxi,' hot tea, and our critics' picks [Tony Horwitz]( Philip Wayne Lock/Fairfax Media via Getty Images The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, historian and author [Tony Horwitz died this week](. His death came as a surprise to many -- he suffered an apparent cardiac arrest while on tour for his most recent book, Spying on the South ([reviewed on NPR.org just weeks ago](. His Pulitzer came for national reporting on low-wage workers for The Wall Street Journal, but he was more recently known for long reportorial travelogues in book form, such as Confederates in the Attic (the places affected by the Civil War), One for the Road (the Australian Outback), A Voyage Long and Strange (the early European settlements of North America) and Boom (the oil-rich Western U.S. and Canada). He was 60. [cover of 'Biloxi']( Mary Miller grudgingly admits that she sees a bit of herself in the main character of her new novel Biloxi. Louis McDonald Jr. is 63, recently retired, generally unhappy and, the author says, "really unlikable." But then he brings home a dog on a whim, and the two become inseparable. [In an interview with NPR’s Ari Shapiro]( Miller says that “the longer you spend with someone” — like her misanthropic protagonist — “the more you like them, maybe.” [scene from 'Good Omens']( Amazon Prime Video So this one isn’t technically a book, but [as reviewer Glen Weldon writes]( “Most of the cleverest, funniest bits in Amazon's six-episode series Good Omens, which debuts on May 31, come straight from the 1990 novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.” The premise is the same: David Tennant plays a demon, Michael Sheen an angel, and in their rather long time on Earth, they find themselves developing such an attachment to humans that they conspire to prevent the apocalypse from happening. It’s a very British sort of humor, Weldon writes — to the show’s credit. [illustration of a scene from a Charles Dickens novel]( Culture Club/Getty Images A recent study in the International Journal of Cancer reveals a link between very hot tea and the risk of esophageal cancer. This finding triggered various emotions of millions of tea drinkers, as well it should -- [a survey of literature shows]( a longstanding relationship between scalding-hot tea and our nerves. Writer Nina Martyris has become NPR’s unofficial tea-in-cultural-history correspondent, and her latest essay touches on Dickens, Dostoevsky, Naguib Mahfouz and … Harry Potter. Also this week: Annalisa Quinn reads Sara Collins’ [The Confessions of Frannie Langton]( a novel about an ex-slave who writes her own story in England; NPR Washington correspondent Ron Elving reads the newest Michael Wolff tell-all about the Trump administration, [Siege: Trump Under Fire]( and Ilana Masad reads [The Queen]( by Josh Levin – a biography of so-called “Welfare Queen” Linda Taylor whose actual life and grifts go way deeper than the racist stereotype she was made to embody. [The Confessions of Frannie Langton cover]( [Siege: Trump Under Fire cover]( [The Queen cover]( Happy reading! --------------------------------------------------------------- What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [books@npr.org](mailto:books@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Music, Pop Culture, Code Switch and more! [Facebook]( [Twitter]( You received this message because you're subscribed to our Books emails. | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002 [NPR]