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From 1935 to 1939, an army of folklorists and writers went in search of tales both real and tall. These stories of America in the Great Depression were gathered by literary giants like Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston and Jim Thompson. A new book revisits the project.

Journalist Will Bunch critiques the 40th president in his new book Tear Down This Myth: How The Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics And Haunts Our Future.

Visual explorations of how the human body works have had us riveted since before Leonardo da Vinci sketched the famous Vitruvian man sometime around 1487. That fascination is the focus of what may be one of the most gruesome coffee table books ever.

Two years ago, author Mark Helprin's op-ed urging the extension of copyright protection inspired a huge online backlash. A new book is his response to the uproar, but opponents are still having their say.

During his nine years as the coach of the Baltimore Ravens, Brian Billick led the team to a Super Bowl win in 2001. Now a commentator for Fox Sports and the NFL Network, he joins Fresh Air to discuss the upcoming Super Bowl — and the future of the NFL.

Attorney David Dow has spent his career representing inmates who have been sentenced to death. Despite his efforts, many of his clients have been executed — and most of them were guilty. In his new memoir, The Autobiography of an Execution, Dow details what it's like to become emotionally involved with the people living on death row.

In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died after a long battle with cervical cancer. Doctors cultured her cells without permission from her family. The story of those cells — known as HeLa cells, in Lacks' honor — and of the medical advances that came from them, is told in Rebecca Skloot's book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

In a new book, journalist Joshua Kosman predicts a coming credit crisis, and assigns blame to private equity firms. While such firms make a fast profit from buying companies, improving them and reselling them, the companies take on the debt incurred from the purchase, leaving them in danger of financial collapse.

This July Fourth weekend the United States has a new constitution — a cake constitution. Lawyer-turned-baker Warren Brown's new cookbook is a culinary tour, full of delectable cakes for every state in the country.

In 1944, Brave New World author Aldous Huxley wrote his first and only children's book. It's called The Crows of Pearblossom and it isn't for the faint of heart. Daniel Pinkwater, our ambassador to the world of kid's lit, joins NPR's Scott Simon to discuss the book's newly illustrated re-release.