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The young heroine of Rachel Kushner's new book The Flamethrowers negotiates art and revolution from the back of a motorcycle — both the late-1970s art scene in Manhattan and the Italian radical left of the same era. Reviewer Maud Newton says The Flamethrowers has "timeless urgency."

In December, Congress is poised for another showdown on the deficit and taxes, in what is now being called the fiscal cliff. In his new book Red Ink, David Wessel explains how the federal budget got to the point where it is today — and where to go from here.

As diagnoses of autism have risen, so too have autistic characters in literature. Tasha Robinson explains how an "intelligent outsider's view of humanity" has led to a growing number of autistic characters in young adult fiction.

Novelist Richard Russo's new memoir, Elsewhere, is the uncompromisingly tragic — yet beautifully told — story of his relationship with his mentally ill mother. Reviewer Michael Schaub calls it "one of the most honest, moving American memoirs in years."

This Veterans Day, NPR Books went into the archives to find stories of combat and coping. A mother describes the emotional minefield of having a child at war, a Marine writes a memoir of a mortuary, and a photojournalist pays tribute to two centuries of Native-Americans in the military.

Next week, Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol finally arrives in paperback, along with Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton's memoir, journalist Fareed Zakaria's update on the post-American world, journalist Annie Jacobsen's look inside a top secret U.S. military base, and journalist Mitchell Zuckoff's true tale of the survivors in a WWII plane crash.

As Thanksgiving draws near, many of us are thinking about what we're thankful for. Novelist and memoirist Anne Lamott says she is filled with "wonder at the just sheer beauty of creation." She discusses her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers.

The traditional mother-daughter dynamic turned on its head for New York Times columnist Alex Witchel in the wake of her mother's struggle with dementia. But Witchel's memoir, despite its raw honesty, fails to provide the depth needed to make it a standout in a trendy genre.

Jeffrey Eugenides traces a love triangle, while Sebastian Barry examines a woman's well-lived life. In nonfiction, Jodi Kantor explores the Obamas' marriage, David Margolick revisits Arkansas school integration, and Simon Garfield romps through the history of type.

T.C. Boyle's past work is largely satirical and tough on his characters. In San Miguel, readers will find the same biting tone, but none of the irony. Loosely based on ranchers' memoirs of a grim California island, this chillingly written novel exposes a bleak and savage reality.