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The new book American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps tells the true story of a Peace Corps volunteer who was murdered in 1976 in the Pacific Island nation of Tonga. Another Peace Corps volunteer was accused of the murder but judged not guilty by reason of insanity by a Tongan court. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with author Philip Weiss.

American support for the war in Iraq is stronger now than it was a month ago, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. The poll's findings also show an improvement in President Bush's standing over the past month. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center.

A couple of Morning Edition producers asked people visiting the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., what it means to be an American.

A new, two-volume anthology of U.S. speeches offers ample evidence that political speaking has framed and rallied every great event from the Revolution to the present. Editor Ted Widmer talks about the famous and not-so-famous orators in American Speeches.

about Shabbat, the Sabbath. Various styles of observing this weekly day of rest, traditionally marked by candle-lighting and a family meal, highlight different ways Jews connect to their heritage.

NPR's Martin Kaste continues Morning Edition's week-long series on Latin American cities with a report on the perennial housing shortage in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In Latin America's biggest megalopolis, as many as 3 million of the estimated 18 million residents cannot find or afford housing. So, they take over abandoned buildings and set up outdoor camps.

Author Ben Macintyre's book tells the true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker who 150 years ago became the first American to visit Afghanistan.

John Ridley's comic-book series The American Way has just been collected into a graphic novel; it takes place in 1961, when the government has created a team of super-heroes to battle foreign super-villains. But it's all just a show created to pacify the public. Ridley previously wrote the screenplay for Three Kings and the novel A Conversation with the Mann.

Many African-American leaders have lost touch with a hallmark of the civil rights movement — the tradition of self-empowerment, Juan Williams says. Instead, he says, they've embraced "victimhood."

Fundraising efforts began this week for the creation of an Embassy of Tribal Nations in Washington, D.C. Host Jennifer Ludden talks with Jacquiline Johnson, the executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, which heads the effort. Johnson says the goal is to have a place for tribal governments to negotiate as a sovereign nation with U.S. and foreign leaders.