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A snappy new CD by the Charlie Hunter Quintet features harmonica, sax, trombone, drums, and guitar, underpinned by a funky bass line — but there's no bass player listed in the liner notes. That's because Hunter does double duty, playing bass and guitar lines with his custom-made eight-string guitar. NPR's Liane Hansen talks with Hunter about his unique playing style.

Pius IX became head of the Catholic church in 1846 and instituted the doctrine of Papal infallibility. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Kertzer says his exile led to the emergence of modern Italy.

In 1944, an Italian prisoner of war was found hanged at a U.S. Army base near Seattle. The trial of three black soldiers that followed was the Army's longest during World War II. Jack Hamann's new book says it ended in a miscarriage of justice.

How did the soda giant from America come to be seen as "local" in Africa? And what has the impact been on the continent for worse and for better?

The North Carolina coast may be the last place you'd think to find a sunken German submarine from World War II. But that's what Joe Hoyt — a nautical archeologist — found on a recent expedition to the ocean floor. Robert Siegel talks to him about the underwater battle site there.

Rachel Beanland's historical novel chronicles the burning of a theater and its aftermath in Virginia in 1811, while also tackling the rampant racism and misogyny of the times in the process.

Most surrogates are paid thousands of dollars to bear a child for someone else, but many say that's not the main motivation. Women who are eager to get pregnant on behalf of others are inspired, among other things, by family history and a love of pregnancy.

When Russia was still the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, summits with its leaders were largely about fears of a thermonuclear duel and mass annihilation. Here's a look back at the highlights.

Obama's ascent thrilled millions but also stirred a countermovement that is still on the march. His new memoir, A Promised Land, covers his rise through the second year of his presidency.

Curtis Cress sat in the gravel beside a railroad track in Harlan County, Kentucky. Tall and thin with a long, black beard, Cress is every bit a coal…