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At their core, novelist Dan Brown's best-selling books are treasure hunts, much the like the ones his father, a math teacher, arranged for him and his siblings. The Lost Symbol continues the tale of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who is plunged into the secretive world of Freemasons.

Author Mark Helprin's latest novel is a sprawling tale of love, honor and danger in the years just after World War II. Returned soldier Harry Copeland spots a mysterious woman in white on the Staten Island Ferry. She turns out to be an heiress with Broadway dreams and a complicated past that threatens their growing love.

to get a first hand look at how bad things are for district schools. Last week, D-C's public school system was declared a 'disaster' by a federally appointed panel that fired the schools' superintendent and stripped the elected school board of most of its powers.

The influential photographer died of cancer Sunday. He was 63. In remembrance, we listen to a 1989 interview with him about his Pictures from Home, a decade-long project in which he observed the effects of his father's job loss on his family — a poignant topic once more.

Traveling westward along California's Route 66, the Santa Monica Pier rises just as the highway ends and the Pacific coast begins, its marquee Ferris wheel hovering majestically over the ocean. In celebration of the pier's centennial, Renee Montagne walks the wooden planks and speaks to some of the locals.

Stanley Tookie Williams, a co-founder of the Crips gang, dies by lethal injection at San Quentin prison, where spent the last 25 years of his life. Supporters said the convicted killer was a changed man who worked from behind bars to end gang violence.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales has nationalized the country's natural-gas industry. Foreign energy companies have six months to agree to new contracts for operating in the country. Some analysts say Morales may have miscalculated their willingness to remain in Bolivia.

Bars like Whitlow's on Wilson near Washington, D.C., are drawing crowds with an increasingly popular video game called Rock Band. Players can take the stage as rock stars — singing or playing guitar, drums or bass to their favorite hits.

Philip C. Winslow has worked for the Christian Science Monitor and ABC radio, but he hasn't always been a journalist: His new memoir detailsthe time he spent working with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the West Bank. It was during the second Palestinian intifada.

At Central Command headquarters in Florida, President Bush says the United States will be "relentless" in its pursuit of victory in Iraq. But he warns the war is "far from over" and that U.S. forces will face "the most desperate elements of a doomed regime" as they close in on Baghdad. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR's Don Gonyea.