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When David Sax was 11, his father handed him The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and said: "Read this if you want to know where I came from." Mordecai Richler's novel about an ambitious teen from Montreal's Jewish working class helped Sax learn to appreciate the immigrant drive.

U.S. military officials are preparing to attempt to take control of Kandahar away from the Taliban later this year. Two young Western residents of the city, Felix Kuehn and Alex Strick van Linschoten, describe what it's like to live and work under Taliban rule.

Novels of manners never get old. Any quick flip through one of today's celebrity magazines will prove that. From social climbers to spouse grabbers, century to century, nothing changes. Author Helen Simonson offers three novels for going beyond Jane Austen's gossip.

Shortly after the Civil War, blacks and whites came together in Covert, Mich., building a town that defied most of the social conventions of the next 100 years. Historian Anna-Lisa Cox and descendants of the town's pioneers help tell its story.

Composer Allen Shawn lives a phobic life. He doesn't like heights, bridges, tunnels, subways, elevators, open spaces or closed spaces. "The degree of my self-preoccupation is appalling," he writes in a new book.

The black vote is key in presidential elections, and candidates turn to black ministers for support. But one of the most powerful black preachers in the country says that, for him, the pulpit is not the place for endorsements. Bishop T.D. Jakes talks to Michele Norris about religion and politics.

A new book argues that honesty may not be the best policy in the workplace. From Hire to Liar: The Role of Deception in the Workplace says lies may not be so bad — they're an essential part of how business gets done.

In 1909, Frank Lloyd Wright, a married father, ran off to Germany with a neighbor, the wife of a client. A new novel imagines a scandalous and little-known part of the legendary American architect's history.

Author Andrea Demirjian talks about the evolution of the kiss and her book Kissing: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About One of Life's Sweetest Pleasures.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu feels we've lost the ability to modulate our voices to suit frustrating circumstances. The reason: We deal with mechanical voices on the phone all day. He says the only real people we talk to anymore are family members