Arts

Sharing power in the Eisenhower administration, John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles were the forefathers of using covert operations to upset foreign governments. Journalist Stephen Kinzer, who wrote a book on the siblings, says Americans are still paying the price for them.

Jim Ledvinka grew up outside of Chicago watching his grandmother make ketchup from scratch once a year. As a kid, he hated the stuff. As a man — and now a grandfather — he became desperate to re-create it. That's where All Things Considered's Found Recipes project comes in.

In The Faithful Scribe, Shahan Mufti examines the history of Pakistan and that nation's relationship to the U.S. He interweaves the story of his own family with the tumultuous story of the nation. Mufti talks with NPR's Arun Rath about the future of the world's first Islamic democracy.

Anya von Bremzen's new memoir is a delicious narrative of memory and cuisine in 20th century Soviet Union. She writes about her family's own history and contemplates the nation's "complicated, even tortured, relationship with food."

The host of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac has published his first poetry collection called O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic and Profound. "I love rhymes," Keillor says. "I love to write a poem about New York and rhyme 'oysters' with 'The Cloisters.' "

In Blowback, Plame channels her expertise in nuclear counterproliferation into a "realistic portrait" of a female covert agent. Plame confesses that there's a lot of downtime in the life of a spy, but still, the CIA is "the world's biggest dating agency."

Joseph Gordon-Levitt also wrote and stars in the film, about a prolific seducer and porn addict who changes his ways when Scarlett Johansson's character enters the picture. Critic David Edelstein says Don Jon is smart, with a subversive touch.

Former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch spent years advocating for an overhaul of the American education system. Now she criticizes changes that she used to support, like charter schools and school choice. She explains her reasoning in Reign of Error, her new book on the pitfalls of privatizing education.