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In Mohsin Hamid's fictional how-to, a nameless protagonist makes a fortune selling knockoff bottled water in a thirsty Asian metropolis. Hamid joins NPR's Steve Inkeep to discuss the book's conceit and the side effects of rampant development.

Eric Kaplan's son had a zoo trip canceled because one mom worried about reindeer-induced questions. So Kaplan, a comedy writer and philosophy grad student, started pondering the puzzle of St. Nick.

As Bangladesh prepares for elections in January, the two main parties remain bitterly opposed. Protests are interrupting transportation in a nation where violence has become a routine part of the election cycle.

India produces some of the world's greatest engineers and scientists, but some of its most influential and educated people also consult the stars. Pandit Ajai Bhambi is one of an army of astrologers dispensing advice to politicians about the general elections, which end May 16.

Millions of Venezuelans have migrated to escape authoritarian rule and their country's worst economic crisis. For the first time, they're the largest group detained for entering the U.S. irregularly.

More bodice unbuttoner than bodice ripper, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiSclafani, is nonetheless an ode to a young girl's sexual awakening. The novel follows Thea, a 1930s teen whose family banishes her to an equestrian boarding school after a mysterious transgression.

In The Child Catchers, Kathryn Joyce explores the outsized influence of evangelical Christian groups on the overseas adoption industry, which can exploit poor families.

Infighting among Republicans threatens to derail plans to pass long-term spending bills next year.

A quiet and reclusive elderly lady died in the British coastal town of Torquay the other day. She had no known relatives and no friends, so local authorities entered her home. They found papers and medals that revealed that she was far from the typical pensioner. Eileen Nearne -- aka Agent Rose, one of only a few dozen female spies dispatched by Britain into occupied France in World War II to work with the French Resistance.

History casts a long shadow over workers on strike at the UAW. For a third-generation autoworker, the unions demands from automakers feels personal.