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Susanna Sonnenberg's life has been full of interesting women, and in a new memoir she tells their stories. Reviewer Meg Wolitzer says that She Matters: A Life in Friendships is a beautifully written book about the bonds, and the boundary issues, between women.

Tales of Machiavellian office politics are all the rage in China, where "bureaucracy lit" is flying off bookstore shelves. The books are read as both entertainment and as how-to guides for aspiring civil servants. Pioneers of the genre offer a path to success in China's corridors of power.

One of the world's most basic cooking ingredients could be the key to protecting some of Europe's most stunning buildings. The limestone used in England's 800-year-old York Minster is particularly vulnerable to pollution. The oleic acid in olive oil, British researchers say, may provide the protective coating needed to prevent further decay.

High school math teacher Jake Scott teaches his students with the help of his hip-hop alias, 2 Pi. By rapping about equations and formulas, Scott helps students remember his lessons and forges a deeper connection with them.

In a new book, Civil War historian Bruce Levine says that from the destruction of the South emerged an entirely new country, making the Civil War equivalent to a second American Revolution. Integral to the Union's victory, he says, were the nearly 200,000 black soldiers who enlisted.

Hedge fund and private equity managers came out of the "fiscal cliff" agreement with a better tax setup than many affluent taxpayers. It largely keeps in place a practice that allows them to have their earnings taxed at a capital gains rate rather than at a higher rate for ordinary income.

On the Map author Simon Garfield speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the history of maps, how they can be used as political tools, and how GPS and modern mapping applications are changing the way we see ourselves and our place in the world.

David Esterly's life was changed in the 1970s when he came across wood carvings done by Grinling Gibbons more than 300 years earlier. Esterly became a wood carver, and even re-created one of Gibbons' pieces that was destroyed in a fire.

The punk group that helped define the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s hasn't reunited — but its members have teamed up to give those who weren't listening the first time around a second chance to appreciate the music and the message.

"Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard." So begins Lisa O'Donnell's novel about two sisters who find their parents dead and, instead of reporting it, decide to keep it a secret until they can make it on their own.