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Author Douglas Perry's new book, Eliot Ness: The Rise and Fall of an American Hero, paints a portrait of the legendary lawman as a flawed but genuinely good guy who floundered when away from the excitement of police work. Ness "helped invent the modern police force," Perry says, but couldn't stop drinking and cheating on his wives.

In 1980s Arkansas, everyone was abuzz with Satan-paranoia. In the middle of the chaos, a teenage Scott Hutchins came across Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. What he found wasn't demonic at all — instead, it was an eye-opening, complex narrative about sad failures, washed-up movie stars and wrecked marriages.

The Time Traveler's Almanac is a gigantic new compilation of — you guessed it — stories about time travel. Reviewer Jason Sheehan says the selection of stories and authors is very nearly perfect.

Looking for books to feed your child's curiosity and ignite the social activist inside of them? Here's our list of children's books to keep your child occupied all summer long.

The Biden administration has launched a new effort to improve the ability of the U.S. to prevent, detect and respond to global health threats. Some experts say the new strategy doesn't go far enough.

No matter what you're doing right now – sitting, standing, walking – you're moving. First, because Earth is spinning around on its axis. This rotation is the reason we have days. Second, because Earth and other planets in our solar system are orbiting the sun. That's why we have years. Third, you're moving because the sun and the rest of our solar system is orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy at over 500,000 miles per hour. If all of that isn't nauseating enough, everything in the entire universe is expanding outward. All the time. But in the 1970s, astrophysicists noticed something strange about our galactic neighborhood, or Local Group. The whole clump of neighboring galaxies was being pulled off course at over one million miles per hour, towards something we couldn't see — the "Great Attractor." This Great Attractor sits in the "Zone of Avoidance," an area of space that is blocked from view by the stars and gas of the Milky Way. Today on the show, host Regina G. Barber talks to astrophysicist Jorge Moreno about this mysterious phenomenon: What it might be and what will happen when we eventually reach it. Curious about other cosmic mysteries? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

The rising young pianist, from a family of seven musical siblings, offers dynamic music by brother and sister Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Amor Towles debuts with a crisp, 1930s Manhattan love story, while George Pelecanos and Sapphire return with novels that probe the dark sides of urban life. In nonfiction, Penn Jillette argues for atheism, and journalist Jane Gross reflects on caring for an aging parent.

What books that touch on topics of race would you recommend to a not-so-bookish teen? A reader asks us to share our suggestions.

With his beard, long hair and brown felt fedora, the jazz flugelhorn player and composer cut an unforgettable figure in American culture.