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Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the ballad after witnessing the Battle for Baltimore in 1814. According to author Steve Vogel, after it was published, Key's composition took the country by storm. But it didn't become the national anthem until more than 100 years later.

It's been four weeks since Pakistan's new prime minister Nawaz Sharif was sworn into office. He's had a difficult start. He's faced a wave of militant attacks and an economically crippling electricity crisis. Now his job has become even harder. Many Pakistanis consider U.S. drone attacks against targets in their tribal belt as a violation of sovereignty. Recently, there's been a lull in these attacks. But overnight there was a fresh missile strike that killed at least 17 people and presented Sharif's government with a quandary.

As their neighbors, the Afghans, shuffle distrustfully toward the negotiating table with the Taliban, Pakistanis are wondering what this means for them. Their own wars have already claimed tens of thousands of lives, and continue to yield daily atrocities.

The 19th-century courtesan died at 23 of tuberculosis, but her legacy inspired a successful play, several movies and the great Italian opera La Traviata. In The Girl Who Loved Camellias, Julie Kavanagh tracks her journey from Normandy peasant girl to romantic heroine.

Susan Choi's new novel, My Education, is a study of relationships and how they end. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer says the book is a triumph for academic novels, portraying youth, love and naivete with exceptional style.

This is the second mystery in Sara Gran's series featuring 40-ish bad-girl detective Claire DeWitt. Critic Maureen Corrigan says that reading a noir novel written by a Brooklyn-born author gave her a rush of private-eye, patriotic pride.

Movie star Ava Gardner agreed to write her memoirs with British journalist Peter Evans in 1988. Now, after the deaths of both Gardner and Evans, the results of their abortive collaboration are being published. Reviewer Bob Mondello says the book is dead on arrival.

Read an exclusive excerpt of David Rakoff's last novel, Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish, a set of humane, witty interlocking vignettes in verse that illustrate the scope of the 20th century, from 1920s Chicago meatpackers to dissatisfied 1980s yuppies.

It's not easy to set up a tandoor oven in the backyard. But chef and writer Madhur Jaffrey says cooking at high heat does something magical to meat, which makes it worthwhile to adapt her tandoor recipes for gas or charcoal grills.