Ari Shapiro

After 20 years as the magazine's cartoon gatekeeper, Bob Mankoff is stepping down. He says humor helps us cope with hardship, get along with one another — and, in general, makes life more enjoyable.

The HBO series is set a few years after 2 percent of the world's population suddenly vanishes. Executive producer Mimi Leder says the show revolves around some of life's biggest questions.

Stephanie Powell Watts' No One Is Coming to Save Us isn't quite a retelling of The Great Gatsby; instead, it uses similar themes to tell a story about black characters in a declining furniture town.

Syrian refugee Monzer Omar, who first spoke with NPR in 2015, has been living in Germany awaiting his wife and young children. After a 10-hour trek out of Syria, they were able to join him in January.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America, about what it takes to bring innovation to government.

Jerry Miller spent more than 25 years behind bars for crimes he didn't commit. His story is part of a new collection that pairs exonerees with mystery/thriller writers.

The Venezuelan rockers moved to Mexico as protest and corruption were swallowing their hometown of Caracas. Life in a foreign country became the inspiration for their latest album, La Lucha.

Mohammed Al-Refaai is a 23-year-old butcher who fled Syria and lives in Toledo, Ohio. When we first met Mohammed, he was waiting for his green card so that he could visit his family who are all still refugees in Jordan.

Nevermind the superhero stories; after his wife died, Oswalt wasn't motivated to channel his loss into fitness or crime fighting. He says so far push-ups have not been a part of his grieving process.

Texas leads the nation in wind energy, while wind turbine technician is the fastest-growing job in the U.S. The industry flourished under former Gov. Rick Perry, Trump's new energy secretary.

Keggie Carew grew up with her father's stories of parachuting into the jungle and working as a spy in Burma. She wasn't sure how much to believe until she started researching her new book, Dadland.

Georgetown, Texas, an exurb of Austin, is one of the first cities in the country to be 100 percent powered by renewable energy.

The off-Broadway musical, in which a barber's clients become filling for meat pies, may make you lose your appetite. But former White House pastry chef Bill Yosses bakes a tempting pre-theater treat.

In the Civil War's waning years, African-Americans trying to find lost loved ones used classified ads in newspapers. More than 900 of these notices are now accessible via an online database.

A group of about a dozen students from the conservative Christian school in Virginia are in the nation's capital to attend Donald Trump's inauguration. They're eager for the new presidency to begin.

After Donald Trump's inauguration, Republican lawmakers once again plan to try to end federal funding that goes to Planned Parenthood. Abortions are among the health services the nonprofit provides.

Juan de la Rosa Diaz, 20, came to the U.S. illegally at age 5. Now, he's a senior in political science at Virginia Tech. He worries about what a Trump presidency means for him and others like him.

Ryan Leavis and Alex Miller are college seniors who plan to enter the military. One voted for Donald Trump, the other for Hillary Clinton. They say politics shouldn't get in the way of friendship.

Yadkin County, N.C., is overwhelmingly white and went overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in November. Voters there hope Trump will lessen what they've felt was a weight on them for the past eight years.

To start our road trip to Donald Trump's inauguration, NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to black clergy and educators in Winston-Salem, N.C., about their hopes and fears for what the next four years may hold.