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Neal Conan offers a personal essay on Kurt Vonnegut Jr., who died Wednesday in Manhattan at 84.

In the second installment of our series on the state of the nation's music and arts education, we hear from an American parent, Maria Calidonna. She reads her essay first published in Newsweek magazine in September 2004.

Literary critic Clive James revisits the work of great writers such as Joseph Conrad, Ernest Hemingway, Shakespeare and others, subjecting each to the "finicky test of delight."

Roger Angell's latest book is a collection of his writings from The New Yorker, centered on "This Old Man," his memorable essay about the pains and pleasures of living into your 90s.

In his sequel to 'This Day,' Berry’s themes, including bringing alive the joys and sorrows of hard-working rural Kentuckians. are revisited in ways both familiar and fresh.

Audie Cornish talks to David Ulin, a The Los Angeles Times book critic who wrote an essay for Boom magazine on a famous William Mulholland speech about the 100-year-old engineering marvel that is the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The aqueduct brought water from the Owens Valley hundreds of miles away to a growing area in need of additional resources to sustain its people and their endeavors, helping spur an economy that today rivals that of many nations. A century later, this gravity-fed system continues to be a major source of water for Angelenos, supplying about half of the water needs for four million people on an average year.

Sarah Viren's memoir, drawing from two life episodes, has the page-turning quality of a thriller. But instead of solving mysteries, she untangles philosophical tensions in pursuit of what is real.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Elaine Hsieh Chou about her recent essay in Vanity Fair, which addresses how Hollywood perpetuates Asian stereotypes.

Co-editor Chimene Suleyman says she doesn't want to wait for other people to decide who's a good immigrant. She wants immigrants to answer that question for themselves.

A growing number of companies say it's a way to keep workers. Critics call it another leg up for families that can already afford counseling.