Thousands of soldiers died at the Battle of Gettysburg, but that number might have been higher had it not been for Jonathan Letterman, chief medical officer of the Union's Army of the Potomac. In Surgeon in Blue, Scott McGaugh explores Letterman's long-lasting legacy.

Benson and the late Nat King Cole have a lot in common: Both started as acclaimed jazz instrumentalists, but became pop stars when they started singing. Cole was a huge influence on Benson, and the guitarist — who turned 70 this spring — pays tribute on his latest album.

Eleven-year-old Luz uses a journal and a deck of cards to gradually tell her dramatic — and traumatic — story. Mario Alberto Zambrano says his debut novel, Loteria, was inspired by the Mexican card game he played growing up.

From Tony Soprano to Don Draper, male characters drive this new — and yet old — form of storytelling. NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks with Brett Martin, author of Difficult Men: Behind the scenes of the Creative Revolution from The Sopranos and the Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

On his latest album, the guitarist puts his funky jazz-rock stamp on compositions that nod to Al Green, Afro-pop and rhythm & blues, with a couple old collaborators in tow.

A new statue outside the embassy of Indonesia in Washington, D.C., is strikingly different from the stately gentlemen depicted in most of the embassy statuary up and down Massachusetts Avenue.

The singer's father, Smith Dobson, was one of the most sought-after pianists in the Bay Area when he died in a car crash in 2001. Sasha Dobson, who had been a scat singer, responded to the tragedy by picking up a guitar.

Susan Choi departs from research-heavy books to write about people and relationships — and winds up writing about love and sex. My Education looks at a graduate student who doesn't learn what she anticipated.

The author admits he was once weary of e-book publishing, but when he found himself writing a novella — too short for a book, too long for a magazine — he decided to test it out. He says he's happy with the experience, both economically and artistically.

Kevin West, author and blogger, takes NPR's Lynn Neary to a farmers market to choose the summer's best produce for canning. "You take this experience ... and you put it in the jar. And six months from now we will re-experience that moment," West says.