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Writer Joe Mackall gained unprecedented access to one of the most conservative Amish communities through his neighbor Samuel. In his new book, Plain Secrets, Mackall chronicles the tightly knit society of Ohio's Swartzentruber Amish.

More than a decade ago, New Jersey writer Junot Diaz, a Rutgers graduate whose family emigrated from the Dominican Republic, made a huge debut with his collection of stories, Drown. Next week, his first novel appears.

Five years after the arrest of six young men from Lackawanna, N.Y., questions remain about whether the so-called "homegrown terrorists" are as dangerous as authorities initially suggested. A book by NPR's Dina Temple-Raston explores the subject.

Denis Johnson's new novel, Tree of Smoke, is one of the late summer's big books in a number of ways. It covers the Vietnam War and the U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia — and the life of a CIA agent whose career grows with the war. Also, it's more than 600 pages long.

Bjorn Lomborg calls himself a "skeptical environmentalist." Critics say he is an anti-environmentalist. In his new book, Cool It, he argues that global warming is not so important that tens of billions of dollars should be spent trying to prevent it.

For nearly 60 years, Doris Lessing has been writing some of the most daring and important fiction in English. In her new novel, she takes a long look back over her shoulder to try to fathom the origins of human life.

Andrew Ferguson is senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a self-described Abraham Lincoln buff. His book Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America, takes a look at how the icon is remembered today.

With Congress out of town on recess, citizens and lawmakers can prepare themselves for next month's assessment of the war in Iraq by reading a new comic novel: Hocus Potus, from former Time and Newsweek correspondent Malcolm MacPherson.

David McCullough tells Steve Inskeep about his new book 1776. The book chronicles the battles George Washington's army fought to win independence for America from Britain.

Variety, the show business trade paper known for its punchy and playful language, celebrates its 100th birthday this year. Terms such as "striptease," "payola" and "soap opera" were coined in its pages, along with some boffo adjectives.

A group of writers has collected more than 800 fading landscape terms in a new book — Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape-- in hopes of keeping them from going extinct.

When political analysts talk about one potential presidential candidate for 2008, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, they often mention his wife — and her down-to-earth appeal. Elizabeth Edwards talks about the death of her teenage son, living a life of politics, and surviving cancer.

In a land where the ground is always frozen, one creature has nourished man both physically and spiritually. Anthropologist Piers Vitebsky discusses The Reindeer People, his book about the Eveny herders of Siberia.

National security experts have been looking for clues about why the government decided to wiretap U.S. citizens. Author Timothy Naftali has checked the public record and has some ideas about the government's motivations.

Sen. Trent Lott talks with Debbie Elliott about politics past and present, from the civil rights era of the 1960s to federal disaster relief for hurricane victims. He has a new memoir, Herding Cats: A Life in Politics.

Jennifer Ludden talks to Edward McPherson about his new biography of silent film star Buster Keaton, known as the "Great Stone Face." He says Keaton handcrafted every aspect of his movies in a way that would be unimaginable today

Some 130 million people are expected to watch Super Bowl XL on Sunday. As always, advertisers are paying big bucks to grab viewers' attention — and some have resorted to making their spots as strange or unpredictable as possible, says author Warren Berger in his book, Advertising Today.

As part of The Long View series of conversations on Morning Edition, author Kurt Vonnegut talks with Steve Inskeep about how society has changed in the last 50 years.

During the Great Depression, many people fled the drought-stricken region that stretched from Nebraska to the Texas panhandle. The struggles of those who stayed are the subject of a book by New York Times reporter Timothy Egan.

William Zinsser, author of the classic guide On Writing Well, talks to Michele Norris about the challenges of writing personal history. He says that since the 1990s, many memoirs have focused on victimhood, rather than forgiveness.

If you're interested in getting your child or teen to keep reading during a hot, long, lazy vacation, offer them these cool summer books. Librarian Nancy Pearl's picks all have great first lines, three-dimensional characters and strong finishes.

One hundred years ago today, Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland applied for a U.S. patent on a substance he dubbed Bakelite, the first "true" synthetic plastic. Michele Norris talks with Dr. Jeffery Meikle, a historian of American plastic, about how Baekeland's invention affected the world's thinking.

Robert Wagner has made movies with Spencer Tracy and played Number Two in the Austin Powers films. In the memoir Pieces of My Heart, Wagner details two winding paths: his career and his love life.

The U.S. may have a special relationship with Britain, but there's a lot that divides Americans and Brits. Sarah Lyall, author of The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British, details British people and their character. In one section of the book, Lyall explores Brits and booze.

Geologic pressures force ancient layers of rock above ground, exposing their cargo of fossils. Paleontologist Kirk Johnson and artist Ray Troll search the western United States for fossils and chronicle their finds in a new book, Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway.