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India's national song turns 100. The song was written as a rallying call for independence from Britain. But since its inception, the Hindu-inspired lyrics have fueled a debate about whether the song ignores India's large Muslim population.

In the late 1960s, just as San Francisco was having its own Summer of Love, a rustic canyon at the heart of Los Angeles was also in bloom with songs that defined the moment, written and performed by the bands that defined a generation.

Every one of his novels is "a lie that tries to sound like the truth," says Brad Meltzer. The Book of Fate is a thriller about a presidential aide and a 200-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson.

Journalist Wayne Slater has written extensively about the influence of Karl Rove on President Bush. His new book is The Architect: Karl Rove and The Master Plan for Absolute Power. Rove has been involved with the Bush family for nearly 30 years and worked with George W. Bush on every one of his campaigns.

Several lesser-known thinkers whose work is widely read on the Internet are more influential than Osama bin Laden in shaping the views and actions of Islamic radicals. That's the view of New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright, author of the book The Looming Tower.

Writer John Hodgman expounds on a variety of fascinating and sublimely ridiculous subjects — historical, literary and hobo — in his book The Areas of My Expertise.

In 1851, two chess masters sat down for a practice game in London. What should have been a throwaway game intensified and was quickly dubbed "the immortal game." David Shenk, author of a new history of chess called The Immortal Game, describes the historic match.

Writer Jonathan Franzen's massive 2001 bestseller The Corrections was based, in part, on his own life. His new book is a memoir, The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History. Franzen's other books include The Twenty-Seventh City, Strong Motion and How to be Alone.

Kevin Clash is the man behind Sesame Street's Elmo character. Clash has written a new book called My Life as a Furry Red Monster.

Men and women have long made music to accompany their labor, and musician Ted Gioia says that work songs are more than a musical genre, they're a transformational tool. The author of the new book Work Songs, shares some of his favorites with us.