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Explorer and activist Bell is best remembered today for helping create the modern state of Iraq. A smartly edited new collection of her writings presents a fascinating (if not always smooth) portrait.

One of the sticking points in the Chicago teachers' strike is how teachers should be evaluated — and the role student performance should play. Districts are grappling with the issue nationwide, but there's little agreement on how to implement such a system well.

We take a moment to consider the "Bic For Her" pen and what other products might follow in its wake.

In Afghanistan, millions of dollars in foreign aid have gone to reintegrating former Taliban fighters and other militants back into society through programs run by the government and the NATO-led coalition. But critics say many militants use these programs to gain access to arms and money.

The latest book by former New Yorker editor Robert Gottlieb, Great Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens, reads more like scintillating gossip about the famous writer and his family than literary scholarship. NPR's Heller McAlpin is fine with that.

Lincoln biographer Ronald White critiques the accuracy of Stephen Spielberg's new film about the Great Emancipator. White says that while not every detail of the film is true, "the delicate balance or blend between history and dramatic art comes off quite well."

France recently hosted discussions between Afghan and Taliban officials. The meetings again raised the possibility of negotiations to end the fighting in Afghanistan, though many analysts remain deeply skeptical.

Author David Rain is an opera fan, and after watching Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly, was left with one question: Whatever happened to the son in the story? His new book, The Heat of the Sun, aims to provide an answer.

Two new biographical studies that read like novels explore the familial relationships that shaped two of the 19th century's most beloved authors. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Great Expectations: The Sons And Daughters Of Charles Dickens "a Gothic nightmare" and Marmee & Louisa "a romance."

Scientists can't say whether there is, or ever was, life on the Red Planet. But two Martian rock samples contained organic molecules — which contain carbon, the chemical element central to life.