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In The Quick and the Dead, Joy Williams fixes a gaze of cold but evocative detachment on the lives of an eclectic cast of characters living in the arid Southwest. Writer Sarah Braunstein says the surreal novel uses wit, candor and virtuosic prose to delve into "our subterranean selves."

After the Civil War, the United States seemed poised to grant equal rights to blacks. But the Supreme Court's rulings in the late 19th century kept blacks segregated for decades, says constitutional scholar Lawrence Goldstone.

Allison Pearson follows up her 2002 best-seller, I Don't Know How She Does It, with I Think I Love You, a novel about a teenage girl's obsession with teen star David Cassidy. The book wasn't hard for Pearson to write. When she was growing up, she was madly in love with Cassidy too.

Tom DeBaggio was 57 when he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. Over the years, he shared his experience with NPR and wrote two books about coping with the disease. He died Monday at the age of 69.

Scandinavian lit is getting a bad reputation. The days of fairy tales are over and a new wave of crime fiction has painted a grim picture of the Nordic countries. Author Heidi Durrow offers three books to take you inside the real Nordic world, where ordinary characters live and love in extraordinary ways.

Abraham Lincoln always thought slavery was unjust — but struggled with what to do once slavery ended. Historian Eric Foner traces how Lincoln's thoughts about slavery — and freed slaves — mirrored America's own transformation in The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.

Writer Claire Dederer thought yoga would make her a better person, a better mother and maybe even all-around perfect. What she found was something deeper, messier and much more real.

James Franco doesn't just spend his time acting in the movies. The star of Milk, Howl and 127 Hours is also an accomplished writer and graduate student. He explains how he juggles his many roles — and why he continues to take on new challenges.

Federal, state and local governments, along with many private companies, are struggling to get their finances in order, and many are looking at one major cost: pensions. Many pensions in the U.S. aren't sustainable, economist Dambisa Moyo says, and they've made American corporations uncompetitive.

Ten years ago Friday, 43 drivers lined up to race NASCAR's Daytona 500. One of them was Dale Earnhardt, who died in a crash in the last lap. Fellow racer Michael Waltrip, who won that race, details the day's events in a new book: In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona, and the Day that Changed Everything.