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Ballet's history is not just about choreography and technique — it's also a history of nationalization, the changing ways we view the body, shifting gender norms and class struggles. Historian Jennifer Homans chronicles the art form in a new cultural history, Apollo's Angels.

A referendum next month in Sudan will decide whether the country will be divided between the Arab, mostly Muslim north and the ethnic African south. Whether things turn bloody may hinge on what happens in Abyei, a disputed region along the border of north and south.

The president's review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan is due in the coming days. Even as the administration looks for a path out of the country, observers are casting doubt on progress so far -- and Afghans say the war in the country is a long struggle that has just begun.

Hip-hop music grew from the streets of Harlem and the Bronx into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Dan Charnas chronicles how hip-hop producers and entrepreneurs changed the music industry and pop culture in The Big Payback.

Fresh Air's resident book critic selects her favorite reads from the year, including Patti Smith's moving memoir, a feminist slant on election season and a new history of labor unions.

A study of five U.S. allies who ended bans on gays openly serving in their militaries showed that the wide-scale disruptions feared by opponents had never materialized, says historian and study author Nathaniel Frank. He discusses his findings and what they suggest for efforts to end the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Writing sex scenes is a tricky business. Do it really badly and you could be awarded the annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award, like this year's winner, novelist Rowan Somerville.

The new health law may threaten the future of hundreds of thousands of health insurance brokers. But many brokers are convinced their services are worth the fees lawmakers have blamed for driving up health costs.

Librarian Nancy Pearl loves reading about other people's lives. And while an unappreciative therapist might call that a predilection toward snooping, it won't stop her from gravitating to the memoir section of the bookstore. Here, for your own vicarious pleasure, are some of her favorites.

The drug industry's main trade group spent at least $101.2 million in 2009 on advocacy efforts during the contentious health care overhaul debate. A lot of the money went to lobbying and TV ads in favor of the law, but some went to its foes.