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Noah talks with Sharyn McCrumb, the author of a novel about the death of Randall Stargill, and his four sons who come home to witness his passing. As in many of McCrumb's novels, the story is set in East Tennessee and concerns family, history, and the future of the land. McCrumb says she draws on many ideas from Celtic (KELL-tik) history, and that she plays music for inspiration while she writes. Furthermore, she doesn't always know the actual plotline of her mysteries when she begins. ("The Rosewood Casket" is published by Dutton.)

Outdoor sculpture is part of the visible history of a town or city. Since 1991, a group called "Save Outdoor Sculpture" (S.O.S) has made its mission the conservation of this history -- from the effects of acid rain, pigeons, and graffiti artists. NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg spoke with members of S.O.S. when they met in Washington DC recently. Members from Philadelphia; Astoria, Oregon; and Washington, DC, say the conservation efforts have produced beautiful results. And the Mayor of Rock Hill, South Carolina, says the city ended up saving itself by saving its sculpture.

South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun's proposed summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il would be the latest effort at serious talks between the bitter rivals. Sandwiched between China and Japan, Koreans on both sides of the DMZ have a long history of negotiating from a position of relative weakness. Their strategies reflect that history. NPR's Eric Weiner reports.

Sandy Tolan reports for American Radio Works on the long Middle Eastern history of animosity toward the West, and America in particular. He says the Arab suspicion of the West reaches back to the days of the Christian Crusades, and has been compounded by more recent history, such as American support for Israel. There is a tension in modern Jordan and Egypt, for example, between a sense of great pride in Arab culture and a sense of defeat by the culture of the West. American films and freedom are admired by many, but American foreign policy is not. American Radio Works in the documentary project of National Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio.

Barry's new book is The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. In 1918, the influenza virus emerged, and in the next year killed millions of people. He writes "before that worldwide pandemic faded away in 1920, it would kill more people than any other outbreak of disease in human history." Scientists are still trying to figure out why the virus spread so rapidly and killed so efficiently. The story has relevance today as scientists believe we are due for another flu pandemic. Barry is the author of four other books including Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America.

Fry bread is a popular food in many Native communities — but has a dark history. One student talks to her grandmother about its complicated place in Native culture.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame offered a class this week for teachers around the country called "Using Popular Music in Interdisciplinary Learning," or "So, you want to be a rock and roll teacher?" The 5 day seminar, given in conjunction with the Cuyahoga Community College, teaches how to use rock and roll to enhance the teaching of history, social studies and literature. The seminar also teaches about the history of Rock and Roll music itself. Linda speaks with Roger Shutack (SHOE-tack), a teacher from Glen Gardner, New Jersey, who attended the seminar.

Human rights leader Jeri Laber. Shes one of the founders of Helsinki Watch, which eventually became Human Rights Watch. Her new book, The Courage of Strangers: Coming of Age with the Human Rights Movement is a memoir that is part personal history and part history of the human rights movement. Laber was executive director of Helsinki Watch from 1979 to 1995 and has written many articles for newspapers and magazines. She's been awarded the Order of Merit by President Vaclav Havel on behalf of the Czech Republic, and she's also won the prestigious MacArthur Grant.

In his book Under the Banner of Heaven, author Jon Krakauer examined the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and of fundamentalist splinter groups, who are not Mormons and who broke off from the church after it abandoned the practice of plural marriages. The book excerpt below looks at the history of the polygamous community in Colorado City, Ariz.

Mare's-urine cocktails? Do-it-yourself forceps? Randi Hutter Epstein's new book Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth From the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank is full of delightful — and sometimes disturbing — anecdotes about the history of pregnancy and childbirth.