“Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains” details the history and curiosities behind some of the city’s aquatic art, from politically induced mischief to true crime stories.

Barbara Kingsolver’s book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” helped launch a new, healthier food movement a decade ago. We speak with the author about the recent “One Book, One Chicago” selection.

In his new book, historian and author David Garrow traces how Barack Obama’s life led him to the presidency – and paints a complicated, sometimes critical portrait of a polarizing and iconic figure.

Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough has been called the “elder statesman of American history” and the “rememberer-in-chief.” He joins us to discuss his new book.

The author of a new book explores the lives of young factory workers exposed to radium in the 1920s.

Adam Selzer, author of the new book “H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil,” joins us to discuss the latest chapter in a story that's already more than a century old.

If you’re not a fan of math, Eugenia Cheng is on a mission to change your point of view. 

When an obsession with outer beauty gets in your head so much that it makes you sick, that’s a serious problem, says Northwestern professor Renee Engeln.

Robert Nelson’s at-times tumultuous tenure as Chicago’s “harbor boss” is chronicled in his new book “Dirty Waters: Confessions of Chicago’s Last Harbor Boss.”

Local author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong on the cultural impact of the TV show “Seinfeld.”

A new film on HBO starring Oprah Winfrey tells the remarkable story of Henrietta Lacks. We revisit our conversation with the Chicago author who tells the story.

Should Chicago annex the suburbs to save its shrinking population? Why one author thinks that might be a good idea.

NPR host Scott Simon on his lifelong love for the Chicago Cubs and what that World Series win meant to him.

A behind-the-scenes look at what some think is the second most powerful position in government: White House chief of staff.

Since her retirement from the ring a couple of years ago, World Wresting Entertainment champion April Jeanette “AJ” Mendez Brooks has been working on another story line – for a new book.

A new book tells the stories of people wrongfully convicted of a crime – and how they came to be released.