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A British fruit historian convincingly argues in a new book that the pear is "the most exciting of the tree fruits." And she says it's time to revive pear culture and explore the fruit's diversity.
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Thomas Laqueur, author of The Work of the Dead, discusses the ways people have dealt with human remains over the course of history. Modern cemeteries, he says, are byproducts of the French Revolution.
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The dishes that marked the Soviet era still have a strong pull on Russian sentiment (if not stomachs). A new book revisits these recipes, born, in part, of food shortages and ingenuity.
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Author Aja Raden says jewelry is the perfect lens through which to view human history. In Stoned, she tells the story of the glass beads used to purchase Manhattan and the rise of the wristwatch.
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Christopher Buckley's new novel is the story of a 16th-century relic hunter and his buddy Albrecht Dürer, who end up in trouble after trying to forge a holy shroud to sell to an unsuspecting nobleman.
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Novelist Claire Vaye Watkins recently published an essay called "On Pandering," about realizing she was writing to appeal to white men. She and author Marlon James discuss responses to the piece.
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Artist Molly Crabapple's lavishly illustrated memoir chronicles her youth in New York and her work illustrating the Occupy Wall Street movement, protests in Greece and everyday life in Syria.
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After being convicted of carjacking as a teenager, Reginald Dwayne Betts spent eight years in an adult prison. Since his release, he has become a poet and a Yale law student.
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The Thirty Million Word Initiative, created by University of Chicago Hospital pediatric surgeon Dana Suskind, attempts to close the achievement gap between poorer and more affluent students.
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The most popular sport in America causes head trauma. Some famous players have been convicted of domestic abuse, or accused of cheating. But author Gregg Easterbrook won't give up on the gridiron.