It's been three years since George Floyd's murder. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the former police officers who killed Floyd, but accountability and justice is not always found in state-sponsored violence against Black Americans. In his new book, Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence, Ellison retraces the case. As he tells NPR's Leila Fadel, the book – and his experience – is also proof that systems can change to prevent future tragedies.

Today's episode features interviews with two monumental performers. First, Jerry Seinfeld chats with Here & Now's Robin Young about his new book, inspired by his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee series, and the kinship between performers in that industry. Then, Tom Hanks speaks with NPR's A Martinez about his new novel, The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece, an ode to all the people and effort required to keep the Hollywood gears turning.

Before author Cassandra Jackson was even born, her father's family suffered a major loss – a car accident that resulted in the deaths of five people, including Jackson's aunt and grandmother. In her new memoir, The Wreck, Jackson attempts to understand the tragedy that shaped her upbringing and dives into the grief she's carried with her for as long as she can remember. In today's episode, she tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe how struggling with infertility triggered her search for answers about her own family's legacy, and what she discovered about segregation and media coverage in the process.

As a certified personal trainer, Justice Roe Williams knows the benefits of exercising regularly– but as a Black trans man, he's also experienced how the gym can be far from welcoming. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Juana Summers – also a certified trainer – about the new anthology he co-edited, Deconstructing the Fitness Industrial Complex: How to Resist, Disrupt, and Reclaim What it Means to Be Fit in American Culture. Williams and Summers get to talking about how to reimagine accessibility and body positivity in the gym, and why that requires thinking outside the box.

Early in the novel Yellowface, a prominent Asian-American writer, Athena Liu, dies. Her white friend, who is struggling to break through in publishing and witnesses Athena's accident, then seizes on an opportunity: to pass off Athena's words – and identity – as her own. In today's episode, real life author R.F. Kuang speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about her new book, and how it unravels the messiness of cultural appropriation, the ethics of friendship and the complexities of imperfect characters.