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McCann's novel, Let the Great World Spin, won the National Book Award. He tells Steve Inskeep that his book — set in New York on the day a man walked on a tight-rope between the towers of the World Trade Center — is an attempt to reconstruct an event to find moments of grace and understanding in history.

When writer Raymond Carver died in 1988, the Times of London christened him "The American Chekov." The epitaph has stuck. Author Susan Jane Gilman has the review of a new, 578-page biography entitled "Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life."

The Messenger tells the story of a man assigned to one of the toughest jobs in the military: notifying the families of the fallen. Col. Steve Beck does that job for the U.S. Marine Corps, and his story is at the center of Final Salute, a book by Jim Sheeler. Sheeler (pictured) and Beck join Fresh Air to talk about a duty that's both an honor and a burden.

When she needs inspiration for writing about the natural world, author Lucinda Fleeson opens Henry Beston's 1929 classic: The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod.

In the second installment of our book series, "Back Story," Steve Inskeep talks with author Bonnie Jo Campbell. Her latest book, American Salvage, is a short story collection that explores the lives of people at the bottom of American society.

India's financial capital, Mumbai, on Friday commemorates the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks that left 166 people dead.

The number of teenage drivers involved in fatal car crashes has dropped dramatically in the past decade. But in those wrecks, male drivers still outnumber females by more than 2 to 1. For Basil Rynestead of Fauquier County, Va., it's a battle against peer pressure and inexperience to stay safe on the road.

The number of teenage drivers involved in fatal car crashes has dropped dramatically in the past decade. But in those wrecks, male drivers still outnumber females by more than 2 to 1. For Basil Rynestead of Fauquier County, Va., it's a battle against peer pressure and inexperience to stay safe on the road.

Our sense of what's dangerous on the road is not always accurate, according to Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do. Take roundabouts: "People fear roundabouts in America — they've been called 'Circles of Death,' Vanderbilt says. "And nothing could be further from the truth."

A secretive fellowship of powerful Christian politicians includes some names that have recently been prominent in the headlines: Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Bart Stupak and Rep. Joe Pitts. Writer Jeff Sharlet describes the men's involvement with the Family, and discusses recent developments within the group.