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Americans don't buy a lot of foreign novels, but go to any neighborhood bookstore and you'll find whole shelves devoted to international comics. In fact, more than half of the graphic novels sold in the U.S. are foreign-language imports.

Michael Bracewell's history of Roxy Music doesn't go for conventional thinking — not about the band, and certainly not about how to write a rock biography. Instead, his new book combines art history, music theory and a smashing sense of fashion.

Rivka Galchen's debut novel opens on a psychologically dark and stormy night: "Last December a woman entered my apartment who looked exactly like my wife." Reviewer Barrie Hardymon says the emotionally devastating novel "hits like a thunderbolt."

"Change" may be the most common word being flung around on the presidential campaign trail this year. But William Safire, who chronicles political words and phrases, notes that "change" was big in Abraham Lincoln's day, too.

Actress Helen Mirren has played countless royals — Cleopatra, Queen Charlotte, Queen Elizabeth I and II. It's no coincidence. Aristocracy is in the blood. Even the working class women in her family were "queenly," she says.

John Reider, author of The Word of the Lord is Upon Me: The Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr., discusses the lingering influence of King's sermons.

During his most recent visit to Iraq, New Yorker writer George Packer focused on stories of Iraqis who have worked as translators, fixers and drivers for the U.S. government, military and media. He has now adapted his story, "Betrayed: The Iraqis Who Trusted America the Most," into a new play.

The poet discusses how his new book, Special Orders, is one long poem in and of itself. He also discusses memory and loss.

Hear the jazz singer demonstrate her soulful technique in this 2008 episode hosted by Marian McPartland.

Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches With Teach for America, by Donna Foote.