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Just how do trees die? It seems like a simple question, but the answer still eludes scientists. And understanding forest ecology is increasingly important as the effects of climate change begin to take root.

Climate change is exaggerating the normal swings in weather. For the American Southwest, that means more intense waves of heat, drought and fire that could wipe out trees that have stood for centuries. It's already revamping the ecology of the landscape.

Woodland forest fires are burning with such power and size, no one can remember anything like it. The problem with fires of this intensity is that the forests can't recover — they are completely destroyed.

In fiction, Robert Harris explores a financial crash and Jennifer DuBois recounts a fateful meeting. In nonfiction, Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum analyze how the U.S. lags, Tony Horwitz looks at abolitionist John Brown and Adam Gopnik considers the meaning of food.

Storytelling is the central theme in Ivan Doig's nostalgic new novel, The Bartender's Tale. Young Rusty learns what makes a good story as he pieces together the chaotic past of his father Tom, a gruff bartender in a small Montana town.

Journalist Seth Rosenfeld spent three decades pursuing government documents about the FBI's undercover operation in Berkeley, Calif., during the student protest movements in the '60s. His new book details how the FBI "used dirty tricks to stifle dissent on campus" and influenced Ronald Reagan's politics.

As a kid, author Victor LaValle loved horror stories. But it wasn't until he read Books of Blood by Clive Barker that he found one set in his own hometown. Have you ever read a book that took place where you live? Tell us in the comments.

Actors in period garb are the usual denizens of the Strawbery Banke Museum campus in Portsmouth, N.H., which spans 250 years of history. To make ends meet, the museum has lured more modern dwellers.

An accused drug dealer has turned the tables and helped prosecutors convict his defense lawyer of manufacturing evidence to help his case. The hard-nosed strategy is raising questions about whether the Justice Department is chilling the relationship between a defendant and his lawyer.

Refinancing is not available to everyone. But those who can refinance switch from adjustable- to fixed-rate mortgages, locking money in at rates their parents in the 1980s never dreamed of. Many shave a couple of hundred dollars off their monthly mortgage payment; some get an even bigger windfall.