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Barzun authored dozens of books and essays on everything from philosophy to music to baseball. He died Thursday, just one month shy of his 105th birthday. "I don't know anybody who had such a Renaissance mind," says his friend and colleague, Prof. Henry Graff.

Emma Donoghue's new book voyages from Ireland to Canada, then into the Yukon and away from a plantation. The best-selling author says Astray may just be 14 stories, but they were informed by about 40 real-life historical events.

President Obama did better with white voters four years ago than most Democratic presidential candidates in recent decades. Polls show he won't repeat that success. But the growth in nonwhite voters the past four years means he has a way to overcome the loss.

Each of the 30 states to consider constitutional amendments that would outlaw such unions has adopted the ban. That may change on Election Day, when voters in Maryland, Washington, Maine and Minnesota make their decision on whether to recognize gay marriage.

The folk singer, environmentalist and activist remains active and busy. He splits the firewood that heats his home overlooking the Hudson River, and he's just published a book of his collected writings and released two new albums.

If a biomechanical breakthrough creates sentient machines, that could lead to some immediate moral quandaries for humans — and could push the debate about robot rights to the front burner.

In bright-red Alabama, the race for chief justice of the state's Supreme Court is surprisingly heated, pitting a controversial and archconservative former justice against a relatively unknown Democrat.

Weekend Edition host Scott Simon speaks with Ben LaBolt, the national press secretary for President Obama's 2012 campaign about their battle in swing states and the next 10 days. On Sunday, NPR's Rachel Martin speaks to the Romney campaign.

It was a week of cross country campaigning for President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. NPR's Scott Horsley and Ari Shapiro were there and join Weekend Edition host Scott Simon to talk about the campaign.

It's Eid al-Adha, or the feast of the sacrifice, a four-day religious holiday that is one of the holiest events of the Muslim world. But there is little to celebrate in Syria's largest city, Aleppo. A cease-fire called for the holiday is already crumbling, and in some areas it never took hold.