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Best-selling author Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol, draws on the lore and mystique of the Freemasons. Once the object of fear and suspicion, the group is now a social organization with spiritual leanings.

Jane's Fame, Claire Harman's book about the author of Emma and Sense and Sensibility, reveals the gap between her legacy — modest, indifferent to fame and devoted to her characters — and her ambition.

The economy added 171,000 jobs in October, but unemployment edged up to 7.9 percent. Unemployment isn't the only economic issue on the table, there's also the deficit. Host Michel Martin speaks with economist and writer Julianne Malveaux and NPR Senior Business Editor Marilyn Geewax to see how those two factors affect the economy at large.

Paul Clement is the lead lawyer for those challenging Obama's health care law in the Supreme Court next week. Clement is described as a walking superlative — once the youngest-ever U.S. solicitor general and now, at 45, a pre-eminent advocate who has argued an astonishing 57 cases before the court.

Alan Cheuse reviews Ladies and Gentlemen, The Original Music of the Hebrew Alphabet, two novellas by translator and scholar Curt Leviant, published by the University of Wisconsin press.

We dive into four themes we saw during our month-long exploration of how race plays out in the dating world.

Go ahead and guess which individuals are paired up. Surprised? Intrigued? Have your own story? We asked members of the #xculturelove group to submit photos of themselves and share reactions they've heard about their interracial relationship.

Even if you hate the holiday, any day is a good day for chocolate and a swoony romantic read. But NPR's romance guru Bobbi Dumas is an unabashed lover of Valentine's Day, and she celebrating by asking five of her favorite authors to recommend their favorite romances — and describe their own Valentine traditions.

Hamburg-born Astrid Kirchherr met the Beatles in 1960, before they were famous. She took some of the earliest photographs of the group and was engaged to Stuart Sutcliffe, the Beatles' original bassist, before he died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962.

It's been 35 years or so since the singer-actress played a solo show in New York. On the run-up to her cabaret gig at Feinstein's, we rang her up to ask why.

The 20th Winter Olympics opens Friday in the Italian city of Turin. Over the next two weeks, 2,600 athletes will be competing before 1 million spectators. First lady Laura Bush will attend the opening ceremony, along with numerous other international dignitaries.

The tipped minimum wage has been stuck at $2.13 an hour since 1991. In states where servers make more than the federal minimum wage, restaurants haven't been hurting.