During 40 years as fiction editor of the New Yorker magazine, William Maxwell worked with luminaries like Vladimir Nabokov and John Cheever. His own writings were often overshadowed by his job — but now they've been reissued by the Library of America to mark the centennial of his birth. NPR's Jacki Lyden finds out more about the man and his words.

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The last summer holiday, Labor Day, is fast approaching and Karen Grigsby Bates is planning to use the weekend to kick back and catch up on some summer reading.

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America America is an ambitious, old-fashioned novel about politics, power and class in a small, upstate New York town. The Nixon-era tale is Canin's sixth book.

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Journalist Jeroen van Bergeijk wanted an adventure, so he bought a 1988 clunker in his native Amsterdam and drove it across the Sahara with the intention of selling it. Within a week of arriving in Africa, he had dozens of offers. By then, however, he was attached to his vehicle and the possibilities it held.

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China's scale is so vast, its variety so great and its rising power so apparent, it acts as an enormous magnet fixing our attention. One result is a torrent of books — but how on earth to choose?

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As the 35th anniversary of Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs "Battle of the Sexes" match approaches, co-host Renee Montagne talks to tennis legend Billie Jean King about that famous match. King highlights the lessons that helped her win that match in a new book, Pressure is a Privilege.

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To solve the murder of her own doppelganger, Detective Cassie Maddox assumes the dead woman's identity and enters into the complex, collective psychology of a charismatic group. Barrie Hardymon has a review.

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Have you ever been caught in a sticky situation with a doughnut? Weekend Edition invites listeners to ask questions and share their stories about doughnuts. Paul Mullins, author of the book Glazed America: A History of the Doughnut, will be answering these questions next week, live, on the Weekend Edition Sunday blog.

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In much of the debate over immigration, there is an underlying question of whether immigrants today are assimilating as easily as past generations. In New York City, the answer is an unqualified "yes," according to a 10-year study involving more than 3,000 young men and women.

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Author Lauren Child talks about her latest book in the Clarice Bean series, Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now, and about her successful "Charlie and Lola" books and their television spinoff.

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Greg Mortenson, executive director of the Central Asia Institute, met with Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf during a recent trip to the region. Musharraf had read a book Mortenson co-wrote titled Three Cups of Tea, about his experiences building more than 60 schools in remote parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Is persuasion an art or a science? We talk to Robert Cialdini, a social psychologist, who thinks a little psychology can improve your shot at getting what you want.

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Movie Love In The Fifties offers a view of America as it was 50 years ago, a postwar nation whose struggle to understand race and sex and fashion was reflected in films that weren't all pitched to the appetites of teenage boys.

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Rick Perlstein's book, Nixonland, combines an evocative trip through the 1960s and early 1970s with an assessment of the impact of Richard Nixon's political career. Perstein argues that many of the deep political divisions in modern American politics were defined by that period, and exploited effectively by Nixon.

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McCain is a decorated war veteran who survived years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He's been a United States senator for 22 years. We know the facts of the Republican presidential candidate's life, but who is John McCain? We look beyond the policy and punditry to the experiences that shaped the man.

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In his new book, the head of the Center for American Progress and former chief of staff for President Clinton says the U.S. needs to create community activists, reform immigration law and form a stronger government; that will lead to a more fair society, he says.

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Most black women living with HIV or AIDS got infected through high-risk sex with men. Marvelyn Brown says she's HIV-positive because she did not consider the risks. She's a former athlete, who now travels the country telling her story and championing personal responsibility.

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A dollar won't buy you much in Europe these days. But three books set on the continent offer a full immersion in "la dolce vita" — at minimal cost.

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In his new book Why We Hate Us, Dick Meyer argues that for the most part Americans are dissatisfied with their own society. But he offers a solution: "a return to some traditions that predate the '60s."

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After he won the presidency, Abraham Lincoln brought three of his rivals for the Republican nomination into his cabinet. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals, recounts the life and work of our 16th president — and the principal characters of his administration.

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