Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. When news came out that Samong Rusty was

attacked on stage, it was scary thinking about not just that this person might die, but also what it meant

for what Rusty symbolizes when it comes to freedom of expression. But it's easy to worry and fret about those things and

kind of forget that Rusty is a massively impressive writer, which is what we're going to be

focusing on today. In a bit, we'll hear him talk about his book, two years, eight months, and 28 nights.

But first, back in 2017, he wrote a book called The Golden House about an Indian man who moves his family to New York.

And there's a moment in this interview between him and NPR's Ari Shapiro,

where they start talking about disillusionment, both in this country and in human beings as a whole.

And what, despite all that, keeps Rusty writing.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

The author Salman Rushdie has set his books all over the world. His most famous novels,

Midnight's Children and the Satanic Verses, take place in India and the UK, both

countries where Rushdie has lived. His new book is mostly set in a city he now calls home,

New York. It's called The Golden House, and its themes are deeply American. One character says,

Your country is young. One thinks differently when one has millennia behind one. You have not even 250 years. I asked Salman Rushdie whether that youthfulness shapes his view of the U.S.

It's a very interesting thing, having been brought up in one very ancient country, India, and then having lived in a kind of reasonably old country, England,

and then to come to a new country,

...