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Taylor Branch spent nearly 24 years researching and writing a three-volume biography of Martin Luther King Jr. He joins Fresh Air to disccuss the struggles and triumphs of the last three years of King's life.

In her book Sundays in America, Suzanne Strempek Shea discusses a yearlong pilgrimage, during which she visited a different Christian church every Sunday. The journey took her from her New England home to the West Coast to the Deep South to the Midwest.

For soldier Brian Turner, words have the impact of bullets. His poems provide a first- person account of war; The New York Times praised their "attention to both the terrors and the beauty he found among Iraq's ruins."

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is set after World War II and follows a London writer who becomes enthralled with the stories of Nazi occupation of the island of Guernsey, off the British coast. Author Mary Ann Shaffer died before she could complete it, but her niece stepped in.

He went from performing in an empty San Francisco coffee house to hosting the Oscars. In his memoir Born Standing Up, out now in paperback, comedian Steve Martin talks about his early days as a stand-up comic — and why he quit.

Iranian-American journalist Farnaz Fassihi was stationed in the Middle East from 2002 until 2006, where she covered the Iraq war and the daily struggles of the Iraqi people. She recounts her experiences in her memoir, Waiting for an Ordinary Day.

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman believes that increased public spending — akin to the efforts of the New Deal during the Great Depression — is the best way to escape the financial crisis and regain American global leadership.

If reading a story is — as John Gardner said — like falling into a vivid and continuous waking dream, then is giving a book like giving someone a dream? Reviewer Alan Cheuse puzzles over the perfect books for your loved ones this year.

Transportation expert Daniel Sperling estimates that the world's car population — which currently stands at 1 billion vehicles — is likely to double in the next 20 years. Sperling is the co-author (with Deborah Gordon) of Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability.

The ABC series Lost may focus on a mystical island, but it's also about larger themes like religious faith and the importance of community — the stuff of memorable novels.