NPR Staff

In her memoir, The Woman I Wanted to Be, Diane von Furstenberg says she owes her success to her mother, a strong, strict Holocaust survivor who called Diane her "torch of freedom."

A man who robbed a bank when he was a high school honor student sits down with a customer who was in the bank that day.

In a candid interview, the ever-innovative pianist traces the lines between Buddhist chants, Sly Stone and Miles Davis, while shedding new light on some hard facts about his past.

Wooden carousels, with hand-carved and painted horses, seem like a relic of the past. But Carousel Works in Mansfield, Ohio, is one of a few companies still making them to order.

The blunt-talking Moshe Ya'alon says that Syria, Iraq and Libya have all been shattered by fighting in recent years and that the future map of the Middle East will look very different.

American journalist Suki Kim spent six months teaching English at a North Korean University that serves the sons of the elite. She chronicles her experience in a new book, Without You, There Is No Us.

Three Denver teens were stopped at a German airport and sent home to the U.S. Their disappearance was originally treated as a standard runaway case.

Legendary fashion designer Oscar de la Renta died at the age of 82 on Monday. Audie Cornish talks to one of the women who modeled his clothing, Bethann Hardison.

"The Hot Dog Clock" and "The Forever Diaper" are also must-haves. A San Francisco comedy group is once again poking fun at the in-flight catalog SkyMall.

The Confederate flag is a sign of bigotry to some. For others, says reporter Jesse Dukes, it symbolizes family heritage and defiance — but also what he calls a "willful innocence" about U.S. history.

The singer and activist tackles jazz standards, including "Strange Fruit" and others, on her new album. Here, she and NPR's Steve Inskeep discuss how she connects with the present through the past.

Joel Beckerman is a composer who specializes in sonic branding. His new book is called The Sonic Boom: How Sound Transforms the Way We Think, Feel, and Buy.

The pop singer and songwriter sounds more comfortable and assured on her second album, Tough Love. "This life is quite bizarre sometimes," she tells NPR's Audie Cornish.

Morning Edition's David Greene has taken this 6,000-mile ride twice. He shares his experience in the cramped third-class cars — borscht and all — in his new book, Midnight in Siberia.

In her new book, The Lives of Muhammad, Boston University professor Kecia Ali discusses the different ways that Muslim and non-Muslim biographers have depicted the prophet over the centuries.

The 101 Freeway slices right through the wilderness in and around Los Angeles, separating local mountain lion populations. To mate and avoid inbreeding, the animals must risk the dangerous crossing.

Geena Davis has played unforgettable roles in movies like Beetlejuice and A League of Their Own. But before her acting debut in Tootsie, she worked at a clothing store in window displays.

The Nike-owned company is suing to protect its Chuck Taylor All Stars from copycats. But NYU law professor Chris Sprigman says it might be an uphill battle, since copying is part of the fashion cycle.

Across the U.S., cattle prices are at record highs. So ranchers and special rangers are working to protect herds from cattle rustlers — thieves looking to sell off stolen animals at auction.

When's the last time you cooked with sorrel leaves or nigella seeds? What about a marrow squash or verjuice? (Don't even know what a verjuice is? Neither did we — it's a special sauce made from semiripe wine grapes.)

All these ingredients might sound exotic and complicated, but chef Yotam ...