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NPR's Liane Hansen speaks with Josh Aiello, author of 60 People to Avoid at the Water Cooler, a tongue-in-cheek anthropological study of annoying corporate creatures, including The Pompous General Partner, the Condescending IT Guy, and the Incontinent CEO.

Many whites in the post civil rights South had a nuanced reaction to a changing racial landscape. Historian Jason Sokol chronicles their lives in There Goes My Everything.

There's a new way to study for the SATs. Rather than a cursory glance at a vocabulary list, this study guide sets words to music and also offers humorous definitions.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was elected to Congress at the age of 29 and served in the House of Representatives for eight years. He just began his second term as a Senator. He is a member of the Senate Democratic Leadership team, and sits on the Senate Finance Committee; the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; and the Judiciary Committee. His new book is Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family At a Time.

A new biography suggests that the legendary escape artist known as Harry Houdini also served as a spy for the U.S. and British governments before World War I.

Kaui Hart Hemmings' first novel, set in Hawaii, recalls that first line of Anna Karenina: that "happy families are all alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In this case, it's a family as wealthy as it is unhappy.

In his book The Happiest Man in the World, Alec Wilkinson chronicles the life of Poppa Neutrino. In 1998, Neutrino sailed a raft made of junk across the Atlantic. Now he's preparing for a solo journey across the Pacific.

A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan is the new history from Michael Kazin. Bryan has been described by Kazin as "one of the most crucial Americans never to win a presidential election."

Washington Post reporter Michael Grunwald. His new book is The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise. The Everglades were once considered a wasteland, worthy of being decimated.

Environmentalist William Powers' new book is Whispering in the Giant's Ear: A Frontline Chronicle From Bolivia's War on Globalization. Powers is also the author of Blue Clay People, about Liberia. He has worked for over a decade in development aid in Latin America, Africa and Washington DC.