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If the tax cut for wealthiest Americans is allowed to expire, those households making over $250,000 would see their income tax rate rise from 33 percent to 36 percent and those making upwards of $375,000 would go from a 35 percent rate to 39.6 percent. But does it make sense for the tax rate for someone making six figures to be the same as for multimillionaires?

Science writer Jennifer Ackerman explores "the uncommon life of your common cold" in her new book, Ah-Choo! She explains why colds follow that familiar throat-to-nose-to-chest path of misery — and details what science shows about various cold remedies. (Prepare to be disappointed.)

More than 6 million African-Americans moved from the South to cities in the Northeast and Midwest between 1915 and 1970. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson documents the resulting demographic and social changes in her history of the Great Migration, The Warmth of Other Suns.

Operation Streamline, first implemented in 2005, puts illegal border-crossers into the federal court system en masse and convicts them as federal criminals. Critics say the program takes resources from more violent cases and infringes on due process rights.

Huge waves have confounded sailors, scientists and surfers for years, but author Susan Casey dives deep into the story of ship-swallowing seas in The Wave with history, scientific research and intrepid surfer Laird Hamilton.

Author Timothy Egan argues in The Big Burn that the forest fire of 1910 — the largest in American history — actually saved the forests, even as its flames charred the trees. It helped rally public support, Egan explains, behind Theodore Roosevelt's push to protect national lands.

In autumn, the publishing industry kicks into high gear, rolling out "big books" — the titles that publishers hope readers will buy through the all-important holiday season. NPR's Lynn Neary follows the path of Emma Donoghue's novel, Room, a book that has generated some serious buzz.

Why all the adulatory attention, critics ask, for Jonathan Franzen's latest domestic drama about marriage and family? Even though Franzen gets more praise for doing what many fine female writers do "backwards and in heels," critic Maureen Corrigan says Freedom has earned its high praise.

Jonathan Franzen's new novel Freedom has been called "a masterpiece" by Time Magazine and has received rave reviews from critics. Franzen talks about the runaway success of his previous novel The Corrections, and the strong reaction elicited by Freedom.

The last thing a grad student needs is another reading list, but don't worry — this one will help. Author Adam Ruben recommends three titles that will help you get through the languorous slog of post-baccalaureate education.