Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Anyone who's ever covered arts and

culture in a newsroom has probably had to argue for covering artists seriously, that a famous

person can have just as much impact on the world as much as, say, a president. You know,

I mean, sometimes that famous person even becomes president.

But anyway, today we've got two books looking at how certain artists intersected with the world

around them. We'll hear about how jazz musicians affected the civil rights movement in a bit,

but first, American Diva is a new book by Deborah Paredes about famous divas in all the ways

that word gets thrown around.

We're talking Tina Turner, Celia Cruz, but also Venus and Serena Williams.

In this interview with Hier Nazdipa Fernandez, she talks about what she and the rest of us,

regular people, can learn from divas.

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.

Diva is a word that's thrown around a lot nowadays.

Often it's used kind of as an insult.

Oh, such and such is such a diva.

But as author and creative writing professor Deborah Padares explores in a new book,

divas can be a source of inspiration and empowerment. Her new book is American Diva,

...