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NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg explores the origins of the Christmas anthem, "White Christmas" written by Irving Berlin to an initially lackluster response from critics.

"Amazing Grace" has become a pop, folk and gospel standard since Englishman John Newton, a slave trader-turned-abolitionist, wrote the words in the 1700s. NPR's Liane Hansen talks with Steve Turner about his new book and the song's remarkable history.

While the Empire State Building may no longer be the tallest in the world, it is still the iconic skyscraper. Going above and beyond the observation deck, NPR's Peter Breslow investigates the history of the Empire State Building for the Present at the Creation series.

The 108th Congress opens this week. Former Senators George McGovern and Alan Simpson talk with NPR's Liane Hanson about the state of civility in the political discourse of members of Congress.

Dr. George Knox is a 91-year-old psychologist and hypnotherapist in Ohio who also is an ultra marathon runner, competing in races of more than 60 miles. He shares his secrets.

NPR Science Correspondent David Kestenbaum reports on a new technology that will affect how companies advertise.

Managing a Major League baseball team has never been easy. And with skyrocketing salaries and multi-year contracts, star players can often exert more control over the team than the manager can. In part two of our series, The Changing Face of Sports and Society, NPR's Debbie Elliott examines how White Sox Manager Jerry Manuel keeps his players focused on what's best for the team.

Two witnesses of America's last public execution describe what they saw. These two men were among the 20,000 people who watched the hanging of convicted rapist Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1936. Tomorrow, Renee Montagne will explore why Bethea's hanging became America's last public execution to date.

NPR's Joanne Silberner reports on how one local hospital in Brooklyn, New York, has adapted to the changing demographics of its community. Coney Island Hospital's patients were once ethnic whites, but a rise in the number of Asian immigrants, especially Pakistani Muslims, has created new challenges for the hospital staff. (8:23) Check out the Changing Face of America series.

Culinary anthropologist Vertamae Grosvenor recalls how food figured in slave life. "Imagine planting, harvesting, cooking, curing, canning, smelling, serving foods that were not for you," says Grosvenor. And then, thanks to Juneteenth, "Imagine freedom -- after centuries of stirring the pot for others, you could do it for yourself."