October 31, 2004  To make sure your Halloween costume is authentic, try consulting A Field Guide to Monsters: This Book Could Save Your Life before you head out the door. NPR's Jennifer Ludden talks monster facts and history with the book's co-author Dave Elliot.
October 31, 2004  After horror writer H.P. Lovecraft died in 1937, his friends founded a publishing house to preserve his legacy. Obscure but influential, Arkham House gave sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury and others their first big break. Wisconsin Public Radio's Brian Bull reports.
October 30, 2004  Ken Wells is the author of the book Travels with Barley, in which he recounts his journey through the southern United States in search of beer people and beer culture. Hear Wells and NPR's Scott Simon.
October 28, 2004  In the wake of the curse-busting World Series victory by the Boston Red Sox, NPR's Noah Adams talks with renowned poet Donald Hall about the verses he's dedicated to baseball.
October 27, 2004  Geeks, gangsters, and the birth of the comic book -- we'll look back at the tawdry roots of the comics industry, a far cry from today's stories starring square-jawed heroes.
October 27, 2004  NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates discusses the new book Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America with its co-author, Samuel Abrams. Abrams argues that the "red vs. blue" cultural divide repeated by American media is inaccurate shorthand, and that Americans agree more than disagree about many important issues.
October 27, 2004  Famed essayist and columnist Stanley Crouch believes the concept of authenticity is not easy for all Americans to grasp — and that's a problem. He dissects the dilemma in his new book The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity. Hear NPR's Tavis Smiley and Crouch.
October 26, 2004  Alan Cheuse reviews Angel of Harlem, Kuwana Haulsey's biographical novel based on the life of Dr. May Chinn, the first female African-American doctor in Harlem.
October 26, 2004  Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt.
October 25, 2004  Novelist Russell banks is the author of many works of fiction, Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, and Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter, both of which have been made into films. He speaks with Terry Gross about his latest novel, Darling.
October 25, 2004  Musician Lenny Kaye is perhaps best known as Patti Smith's guitarist. But he's also a music writer, whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and Creem. His new book, You Call it Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon, chronicles the male singers of the 1930s known for their suave, sophisticated and romantic interpretations of song: Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee and Russ Columbo.