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In the period after the Civil War, former slaves were made promises of equality and citizenship by the federal government. Historian Eric Foner analyzes the fate of those promises in Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction.

Taxpayers across the country are scribbling out checks to the United States Treasury. What happens to that check after it's dropped in the mailbox? Slate senior editor Andy Bowers explains where the money goes.

When journalist Pete Earley's son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it sent him on an effort not only to get his son properly diagnosed and treated, but to understand the nation's mental health system. Earley's book about the experience is Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness.

The White House releases its review of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. The 217-page report was far less harsh in its assessment of what went wrong than a similar report last week by a House committee. But the administration admits the response was flawed, and recommends more than 100 ways to address problems that emerged during the storm.

While six retired military generals have come out in the past weeks calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to step down, no active generals have followed suit. Time magazine reporter and commentator Douglas Waller offers some historical perspective on speaking out against a senior official.

Russia and the European Union joined the United States in condemning Iran for advancing its nuclear program. On Tuesday, Iran said it had enriched uranium, in defiance of a United Nations demand.

For 60 years people living in Northwest Tennessee have been able to hear a radio program called Swap Shop. The format of the show is simple, harkening back to the days when radio was a predominently local medium. Listeners call or write in to buy or sell items, ranging from household items to farmyard implements. Producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister heard the program, and as part of an occasional series, they asked musician Kurt Wagner and his band Lambchop to use the show as inspiration for an original song.

Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that Iran's defiant action -- breaking the seals on uranium enrichment centrifuges -- is a harbinger of deep troubles to come.

Among those helping to rebuild New Orleans is a small army of illegal immigrant workers from Brazil. Their journeys to America often involve the perils not just of crossing the Rio Grande, but of financing the trip by turning to loan-sharks back home.

In a town full of museums, the Phillips Collection has always been Washington, D.C.'s most intimate, personal home for paintings. Now some 60 of its European masterworks are back after a four-year absence.