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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.

Ali Eteraz returned to his home country of Pakistan after living in the US to find himself at the center of an abduction plot. He describes his experiences in his new memoir, Children of the Dust.

Fine French cuisine doesn't have to mean waiters in tuxedos ferrying trays of oysters or silver-domed serving dishes. Chef Christian Constant is leading a mini-revolution in Paris; he's opened four small, lively restaurants that are comfortable, welcoming — and delicieux.

Washington Post Pentagon Correspondent Greg Jaffe joins Fresh Air to talk about the military options available to President Obama as he develops a new strategy in Afghanistan. Jaffe is co-author of the new book The Fourth Star, about the four generals who led the US military's efforts in Iraq.

Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk says his new novel is a love story that "doesn't put love on a pedestal." Instead, The Museum of Innocence is about one man's obsession with a beautiful young woman — and the museum collection he dedicates to the affair that derailed his life.

Literature is full of reminders that houses have souls, a fact characters forget at their own peril. In some novels, the house is as much a force as any of the people in the story. When that happens, the human characters had better beware.

All Things Considered producer Melissa Gray describes her adventures in baking — and the staff's adventures in eating — in All Cakes Considered. Gray brings a new cake into the office every Monday. She says she loves to see the staff's childish joy at seeing her latest confection.

Homer's epic poem "The Iliad" dates back thousands of years, but author Caroline Alexander says its themes, especially about war, ring true today. Guy Raz talks to Alexander about her new book, The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War.

Weekends at Bellevue is psychiatrist Julie Holland's account of her years treating patients in a New York City psychiatric ER. She says one of the hardest parts of her job was figuring out which patients were manic or schizophrenic and which were high on cocaine or methamphetamines.

The author of Where The Wild Things Are talks about his childhood and the funny-looking older relatives upon whom he based the creatures in the book.