Takes up the origin of words, the development of language, and the light that words--simple but important words--shed on the history of mankind and how language preserves us, binds us, and makes us a social species.

Includes material on warts, DNA, cloning, and medical economics.

From the Publisher: The son of former slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the most prominent and publicly recognized figures in American literature at the turn of the twentieth century. Thirty-three years old at the time of his death in 1906, he had published four novels, four collections of short stories, and fourteen books of poetry, not to mention numerous songs, plays, and essays in newspapers and magazines around the world. In the century...

Presents interviews and stories from some of America's oldest men and women, gathered during a year-long project by Neenah Ellis, a producer for National Public Radio.