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The Civil War remains the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history and the defining crisis of the nation. But it might easily have started 12 years earlier. Fergus Bordewich tells the story of the compromise that staved off civil war, and also made it inevitable, in his book, America's Great Debate.

Tuesday is primary day in five states. But with the nomination all but sewn up for Mitt Romney, finding people actually interested in voting can be tough.

Ken "The Bug Guy" MacNeil, host of the Science Channel's Bugging Out, has opened a pet shop devoted to insects in Tucson, Ariz. His inventory of about 10,000 includes tarantulas, scorpions and hissing cockroaches from Madagascar, all for sale as pets.

The White House has been fielding questions lately about President Obama's travel — what's official, what's political and whether taxpayers are getting stuck with the bill. The same issue rolls around every time a president runs for re-election. So how does it break down?

The U.S. Supreme Court takes up another incendiary election issue Wednesday when it hears arguments on a controversial Arizona law that targets illegal immigrants. The law has become a model for other states, but last year a federal appeals court blocked enforcement of key provisions.

In The Social Conquest of Earth, biologist and naturalist Edward O. Wilson writes of how humans and insects conquered the Earth by forming complex societies based on group cooperation, and he discusses the evolutionary struggle between our altruistic and selfish natures.

The Cuban jazz pianist was arrested and nearly deported after entering the U.S. from Mexico. Rodriguez's debut album, Sounds of Space, is a collaboration with his idol, Quincy Jones.

Author Philip Kerr's latest novel takes his wartime German gumshoe Bernie Gunther from Berlin to Prague at the behest of notorious SS boss Reynhard Heydrich. Gunther must solve an Agatha Christie-style country house murder mystery in which the suspects are all mass murderers already.

Americans are still as religious as ever, says New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. It's the churches and institutions that have declined. In his latest book, Bad Religion, Douthat argues that the U.S. become a nation of heretics.

Envoys from six world powers meet Iranian officials in Istanbul Saturday. It's the latest attempt to resolve the growing confrontation over Tehran's suspect nuclear program. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.