Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies Edited by Mark C. Carnes Henry Holt, 304 pages, $30 This book is one of those simple ideas that makes you ask, "Why...

All right, so it's not exactly Keats. To fans of "The Adventures of Spin and Marty," its episode-ending "Ballad of the Triple R" theme song remains a thing of beauty...

The Witness By Sandra Brown Warner Books, 422 pages, $21.95 When we meet Kendall Deaton in Sandra Brown's "The Witness," she's in the emergency room. She has just pulled herself,...

Pandora's Clock By John J. Nance Doubleday, 357 pages, $23.50 You can read it now or see it later. I'd recommend the former. "Pandora's Clock" is a ticking time-bomb of...

With a microwave, there are quick solutions to many of summer's problems: Problem: The urge to break the diet with a hot fudge sundae won't quit and there's no fudge...

One season; one murder. Only one producer could sell the networks on an idea like that: Steven Bochco, creator of "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law" and "NYPD Blue." His name...

Made in America By Bill Bryson Morrow, 417 pages, $23 Journalist Bill Bryson describes "Made in America" as a "modest attempt to examine how and why American speech came to...

The fuss about berries at this time of year is over raspberries or blueberries. Often ignored are two other seasonal celebrities. Currants and gooseberries, related in the Ribes genus, are...

Marie Curie: A Life By Susan Quinn Simon & Schuster, 509 pages, $30 Reading Susan Quinn's illuminating and meticulously researched biography of Marie Curie, one ceases to marvel at the...

Here's an honor roll of past TV shows featuring characters working in the the media or show business: "I Love Lucy" (nightclub singer). "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (TV newsroom)....