Michele Norris

Elysha O'Brien calls herself a "Mexican white girl." Not just because of her ethnically ambiguous appearance, she says, but also because she can't speak Spanish. Fearing their children would experience discrimination if they spoke Spanish, her parents chose not to teach them their native tongue.

Dr. Gregory McGriff, a black doctor in a largely white community, says gaining his patients' trust requires him to spend more time and "communicate a little bit more" than his white colleagues. He says that disparity, while seeming unfair, has helped to make him a better doctor.

In 1877, Anna Sewell wrote a novel about human kindness and cruelty — all from the point of view of a horse. In the decades since, Black Beauty has been embraced by generations of children, and has helped change the way we treat and think about horses.

In 1857, a group of American intellectuals founded The Atlantic and used it to challenge the institution of slavery. Now, on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War's beginning, a new issue of the magazine reaches back to a time when slavery — and the future of the United States — was still an open question.

Introducing a new NPR book club ... for kids! Our first book will be The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Young readers are invited to read the book and share their thoughts and questions with us. Just before Halloween, Gaiman will be on the program to answer questions from young listeners.

Police in London are bracing for another night of rioting. Parliament has been called back into session amid demands in some quarters for the army to be deployed. Major sporting events have been canceled as the riots and looting spread to provincial cities.

Author Nadine Cohodas has written a new biography of singer Nina Simone. It's called Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone, and it tells the story of the singer's evolution from classical pianist to civil rights icon. Read about Simone's musical beginnings in an excerpt from the book here.

President Obama has ordered 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan. The plan is to get the forces there by the summer of 2010, a very fast timeline. To make that happen will be a real challenge for the U.S. military — troops and their equipment will have to move halfway around the world to join the fight.

Afghanistan's election commission has cancelled plans for a presidential runoff vote, and declared Hamid Karzai the winner. The move followed a decision by Karzai's only remaining challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, to pull out of the race.

A key component of President Obama's plan to overhaul the financial regulatory system is the creation of a consumer protection agency. The agency would oversee consumer financial products, which have been regulated in the past, but whose oversight was exposed as lax.

Supporters loyal to Iran's supreme leader took to the streets Tuesday at a massive rally organized by the clerical regime. Later, supporters of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi staged another protest against the election results. Meanwhile, the government said it would recount some disputed ballots, and foreign media were barred from covering rallies in Tehran.

Ahmed Gailani, the first Guantanamo detainee to stand trial in federal court, arrived in New York Tuesday to stand trial for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. His case is part of a much broader national debate over how to handle the roughly 240 detainees being held at the camp.