I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WB EZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is NERD. I'm Greta Johnson, and I am still on the floor of my bedroom closet, which means this is another edition of Nerdette's introverts guide to the good life.

It is June, and we are officially in the throes of summer reading season, which honestly

might just be my favorite time of the year. Forget Christmas. Our plan for today was to have

a guest on to talk about all the great books that are coming out this summer because there are a lot

of great books coming out this summer. But with everything that's been happening around the country

this week, we thought we should also talk about some reading ideas for those of you who are trying to figure out how we got here and what to do next.

So here to help me with both of those things is NPR Books Editor Barry Hardiman.

Barry, hey.

Hey, Greta.

I am so excited to have you on the show for the first time ever somehow.

I don't know how this is.

I already feel like I know you.

I'm going to stay forever. Excellent. So, Barry, as I mentioned, you and I had originally planned

on like just talking about like fun, breezy summer books. And I do still want to get to some of that.

But given the protests that have been taking place this week

all over the country and last week. And just, I, you know, I feel like a lot of people are doing

...