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The hitter had a swing so pure and flawless that Mickey Mantle would watch him take batting practice. But he was also a tormented soul who hurt a lot of people, including himself. Ben Bradlee Jr. delivers a deeply personal account of Williams' life in The Kid.

Shoppers spent less this weekend than they did last year, even though many stores were open on Thanksgiving. Analysts are still predicting a strong holiday shopping season, but uncertainty about the economy is making customers uneasy.

Napoleonic Wars? The Royal Navy? Yawn. Novelist Nicola Griffith had low expectations when she started reading Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. But soon she was tearing through the 20-volume series, reveling in the deeply rendered friendship between the characters Jack and Stephen. It's a masterpiece, she says: "Jane Austen on a ship of war."

A new collection of Dickinson's poems — written on envelopes and found after her death — opens a rare porthole into the enigmatic writer's life and art. Literally and figuratively shaped by their unusual medium, the poems in The Gorgeous Nothings invite endless interpretations.

So you know how, if someone comes by and taps the top of your open beer bottle, a volcano of brewski will explode? Well, it turns out that the physics involved are the same as what causes an atomic bomb to form a mushroom cloud. A scientist explains how it works.

After years of cooking and eating the same pumpkin pies, stuffing and green bean casseroles, you might be in a Thanksgiving slump. Veteran restaurant critic Patricia Wells has a few recipes — including a spicy pumpkin soup and "intense" chocolate custards — to put a French twist on the holiday.

For the system to work, however, age won't be as important as how healthy or unhealthy all the new enrollees are. And insurers won't really know that until next year, when claims start rolling in. Sick people are more motivated to sign up early, researchers say.

B. Todd Jones is in charge of a bureau whose relevance and performance are being questioned and whose resource problems appear to be growing larger. He's trying to put the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives back on solid footing after years of controversy and criticism.

NPR photographer David Gilkey has photographed in extreme situations — from the surge in Afghanistan, to bombings in Gaza, to the tsunami in Japan, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw in the village of Barangay 68 in Tacloban City, Philippines.

Chitlins, black-eyed peas and sweet potato greens ... it's all soul food you might want to consider adding to your Thanksgiving table. Host Michel Martin hears about the history of soul food — and gets some recipes — from Adrian Miller, author of Soul Food: The Surprising Story of An American Cuisine One Plate At A Time.