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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.

Nine months after the quake in Haiti, Haitian-born author Edwidge Danticat is sharing the earthquake story with an audience that was largely shielded from it — children. Eight Days is a book about a boy who gets buried in the rubble and is not rescued until eight days later.

The federal tax rate for U.S. corporations is nearly 40 percent, the second-highest among industrialized nations. Critics say the best way to create jobs would be to lower it. But others say various tax breaks, exemptions and deductions have some paying far lower taxes.

A full-blown congressional debate on the expiring 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will unfold this fall, but some lawmakers have already weighed in on the most controversial issue: whether it makes sense, at a time of huge budget deficits, to extend tax relief for those earning more than $250,000.

When it comes to taxes in the U.S., it's the income tax -- and the annual April 15 deadline for filing returns -- that gets most of our attention. But that's only part of the picture -- there are property taxes and sales taxes, even taxes built into every cell phone bill. So how much do we pay? One couple in Connecticut opens their books to find out.

Labor unions in France called for nationwide strikes and demonstrations Tuesday against the economic and social policies of President Nicolas Sarkozy's government. The main focus of the protest has been a plan to extend the pension age, but demonstrators have also attacked Sarkozy's strategy on the economy and immigration.