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The former Talking Heads frontman has been busy lately. He's written a book, Bicycle Diaries, and designed whimsical bike racks in New York City. Now he's recorded a pop song cycle, Here Lies Love, about Imelda Marcos, the infamous wife of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

In his new novel, The Plot Against America, Philp Roth imagines a 1940's fascist America led by flying ace and staunch isolationist Charles Lindbergh. NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Roth about his invented history.

Librarian Nancy Pearl shares the work of a few of her best-loved poets. They include a former nun who wrote about Marilyn Monroe, a man who was left paralyzed after a bicycle accident, and writers who — despite the sometimes rigid requirements of their chosen form — find surprising, inventive ways to use words.

American mothers as a whole do not breast-feed their babies as much as medical professionals would like. Health experts say African-American moms are less likely to nurse than whites and Hispanics. The federal government, some hospitals and nonprofits are trying different strategies to close the breast-feeding gap among black women.

Fifty-five years ago, John Steinbeck's best friend died after being struck by a train near Monterey's Cannery Row. Ricketts, a marine biologist, was cast as the fictional "Doc" in Steinbeck's best-selling novel. In a two-part Morning Edition report, NPR's Renee Montagne looks back at one of American fiction's most famous locales and at Ricketts and his lasting legacy.

A book about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay has led to an investigation by the Spanish court. In Torture Team, Philippe Sands alleges that high-ranking members of the Bush administration were responsible for instituting harsh interrogation tactics.

Philipp Meyer talks about his dark novel American Rust, and how the story of life in a Pennsylvania steel town reflects broad trends in blue-collar America.

Thirty-five years after a young Frenchman walked across the sky between the Twin Towers, they are missing from the landscape — but not from our minds.

In his 2008 book, Torture Team, British lawyer Philippe Sands accuses the Bush administration of condoning harsh interrogation techniques.

Relatives can be an important ingredient to a successful Thanksgiving. Classical music commentator Miles Hoffman points out some important musical relatives of Mozart, Bach, Schumann and Mendelssohn.