Historian David McCullough is known for his biographies of monumental American figures: John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman. But McCullough second book, published in 1972, explored American history not through the eyes of a Founding Father or a President, but through one of the most important public works projects of all time: the Brooklyn Bridge.

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in New York to a throng of cheering supporters on Saturday. He will soon begin a fellowship at New York University Law School's U.S.-Asia Law Institute, and he spoke to the crowd at NYU about his plight: "After much turbulence, I have come out of Shandong," he said, through an interpreter. "This is thanks to the assistance of many friends." Bob Fu is a Chinese human rights activist and pastor, living in the United States. He was instrumental in publicizing Chen Guangcheng's case and helped negotiate his release.

The case of Tyler Clementi became national news when the Rutgers University freshman jumped off the George Washington Bridge in September, 2010. Clementi had recently told his family he was gay. Last March, a New Jersey jury convicted Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy, after Ravi spied on Tyler kissing another man. Today, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman will announce Ravi's sentence, and many are concerned that he might face a punishment that doesn’t fit the crime. Marc Pourier, law professor at Seton Hall University, is particularly concerned that Ravi will face an unfair sentence. 

Chef Seamus Mullen, owner of the Spanish restaurant Tertulia and the author of the new cookbook, "Hero Food," first visited Spain at the age of 16. "It opened me up to a world of flavors that now may not seem that exotic to a lot of people; chorizo and everybody's heard of paella," he explained to Takeaway co-host John Hockenberry. "But, going back 20 years, for a farm boy from Vermont, that was completely new territory."

On February 4, 1983, Wanda Lopez was stabbed to death in a Texas gas station. A jury convicted Carlos Deluna for the murder five months later and Deluna was executed in December 1989. But this week, nearly 30 years after Wanda Lopez’s death, a new investigation into Deluna’s conviction and execution poses serious questions about Deluna’s guilt, and challenges the fairness of our justice system.

Ovarian cancer is called the silent killer. Most women don’t receive a diagnosis until the disease has spread, until the chances for survival have dwindled. Once diagnosed, the treatment might be just as bad as the disease, as Dr. Vivian Bearing, the main character in Margaret Edson’s play “Wit," explains: "I am in isolation because I am being treated for cancer," she says. "My treatment imperils my health. Herein lies the paradox." Like Vivian Bearing, Susan Gubar is a professor of English, coping with ovarian cancer. Yet Professor Gubar's story of diagnosis and treatment is quite different from the one Margaret Edsons chronicles in "Wit."

Over the past few years, The Daily Show has grown into a cultural phenomenon and a political powerhouse. But when The Daily Show began in 1996, Comedy Central was a tiny network with few cable subscribers. Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show, writes in her new memoir, "Lizz Free or Die," that the show's remarkable success was predicated on the "gold mine of comedy material" on television news.

A mother embarks on a journey with her five-year-old daughter to scale all 48 of New Hampshire's 4,000-foot peaks, and discovers climbing is an invaluable teaching tool for instilling independence and self-determination. Patricia Ellis Herr chronicles these adventures with her daughter Alex Herr in her book, "Up: A Mother And Daughter's Peakbragging Adventure."

In 1978, author John Irving rocketed to stardom with a sweeping, complex novel called "The World According to Garp." It featured several characters unfamiliar to most Americans, including Roberta Muldoon, the former Philadelphia Eagles tight-end living as a transsexual. Irving often grapples with bisexuality and non-heterosexual relationships in his novels. His new novel "In One Person" details the story of Bill Abbott, a bisexual boy growing up in the Irving-esque small New England town of First Sister, Vermont.

Since the financial collapse in 2008, Americans have become accustomed to hearing grim news about the state of the economy. But author and economics editor Daniel Gross has a more optimistic take. In his new book, "Better, Stronger, Faster: The Myth of American Decline and the Rise of a New Economy," Gross argues that the country's initial reaction to the economic hardships have paved the way for a brighter, stronger future.

In 1987, Wall Street came to be personified by the Oliver Stone film of the same name, by Michael Douglas’s Gordon Gekko. "The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good," Gekko famously preached. Today, the Occupy Wall Street Movement seems to be fighting against this same idea. How, exactly, does the one percent feel about that? Edward Conard, former managing director of Bain Capital, offers his opinion.

President Obama’s score is 91. Lady Gaga’s is 94. But Justin Bieber is the man to beat, with an all-time high score of 100. On what metric does the President of the United States lose out to pop stars? It’s not about style, humor or staying in key. It’s about Klout. As Anthony Wing Kosner, web developer and contributor to Forbes.com explains, and we hear from Sam Fiorella who failed to get a job because of his low Klout score.

In 2007, during his contentious primary race with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama spent a week campaigning with Newark Mayor Corey Booker and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. The media continually highlighted the difference between these three young, African-American politicians and the generation of black leaders that came before them. A new book by Professor Andra Gillespie examines the new generation of black politicians exemplified by President Obama through the lens of Cory Booker's mayoral election and his tenure in Newark.

When Sen. John McCain conceded the presidency to Barack Obama, McCain said: "A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time." Author Deborah Davis chronicles that dinner, its aftermath, and the lives of Roosevelt and Washington in her new book.

Ethan Bronner is a correspondent for our partner The New York Times. He recently announced that he would transition from his role as the paper's Jerusalem Bureau Chief to become a national legal correspondent in New York. The Middle East has changed radically since Bronner accepted the Bureau Chief position in early 2008. Perhaps most visible are the results of the Arab Spring uprisings throughout the region. Bronner reflects on the immense changes in the Middle East since he started reporting there four years ago.

The Tea Party hasn't been making headlines recently, but in the Indiana Republican primary Tuesday, six-term Senator Dick Lugar may be unseated by a much more conservative candidate. Richard Mourdock, currently the state's treasurer, has a Tea Party backing that's given him a ten-point lead in the polls. In 2010, the Indiana Tea Party split three ways, and Dan Coats, a Republican candidate that the Tea Party considered too moderate, won the election. During 2012's election cycle, Mourdock's success is a testament to the group's newfound unity. Mary Beth Schneider, a political reporter at the Indianapolis Star, discusses her expectations for Tuesday.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has spent her career working on complicated issues of history, ethnic identity, and governance, but she didn't realize the complexity of her own identity until the age of 59. In 1997, as the Clinton Administration vetted then-Ambassador Albright for the Secretary of State position, Albright discovered that most of her family was Jewish — and that many of her relatives perished in the Holocaust. That realization provided the impetus for her new book, "Prague Winter."

Detroit has come to represent for many Americans the worst of what the recession has done to the country’s once-indomitable manufacturing capitals. It’s now the poorest major city in the US. In the past decade, the city population has declined by 25 percent, and it’s regularly cited as among the most dangerous cities in the country. Mayor Dave Bing explains how his administration is trying to save Detroit.

Take one of the greatest love stories of all time and replace the Montagues with Sunnis, the Capulets with Shiites, and set the play in Iraq. That’s the premise for the new play “Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad” showing this week at the World Shakespeare Festival in the United Kingdom. Listen to playwright and actor Monadhil Daood.

Today, General Motors announces its first quarter earnings. The CEO and chairman of General Motors, Dan Akerson, takes listener questions and talks about how the company has faired since it was restructured by the federal government in 2009.