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Fifty years ago Norton Juster sat down and tried to remember the confusion and dislocation of childhood. His memories became a book, and The Phantom Tollbooth was born. In this essay, Juster looks back at his beloved novel, and the bored, disconnected child who grew up to write it.

In his new book, British journalist Ioan Grillo takes a close look at the Mexican drug war, starting with el narco, or the network of drug smugglers who cast a murderous shadow over Mexico.

Biographer Walter Isaacson draws on more than 40 interviews with the late Apple co-founder in his new book, Steve Jobs. Isaacson describes how Jobs grappled with being adopted, how he became a notoriously demanding boss, and how he fought the cancer that eventually killed him.

The political landscape of Europe is changing. The Eurozone debt crisis is fueling opposition to the European Union. The EU has created a huge single market, and has brought decades of stability to a region once ravaged by terrible wars. Yet some Europeans are beginning to wonder if they still want to be part of it. Illustrating the changing mood, Britain's Parliament voted Monday on whether to hold a public referendum on leaving the union.

Since 2006, 40,000 people have been murdered in Mexico as drug cartels battle each other and the Mexican military. Journalist Ioan Grillo traces how Mexico came to control drug trafficking in El Narco.

Few have as intense a relationship with monsters as filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. His award-winning film Pan's Labyrinth depicted real and fantastical monsters, while The Strain — the best-selling fantasy trilogy del Toro just wrapped up — re-imagines vampires as anything but romantic.

In the bucolic setting of The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker, the joys and pitfalls of sibling rivalry are given new life. Author Amy Waldman says the book's sparse prose and stark setting provide the backdrop for a moving story of familial resentment.

Did you really think the apples you lifted out of a wooden crate at a grocery store came from a local farm? Think again. As Martin Lindstrom explains in his new book, Brandwashed, companies use many tricks to manipulate our minds and persuade us to buy.

On the evening Oct. 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid he hoped would ignite a nationwide uprising against slavery. Tony Horwitz tells the story of how Brown's defeat helped spark the Civil War, in Midnight Rising.

The French never let a crisis spoil a weekend — as you can tell. As the working week draws to a close in a cafe off the Champs-Elysee in Paris, there's a mood of keen anticipation. The wine's flowing with extra velocity. The French are preparing for two days of sports, food and family fun. They seem unperturbed by, or perhaps unaware of, the fact that their fate depends on what happens this weekend and the days that follow. If things go wrong, life won't be much fun any more.