Biographer Jeffrey Meyers on how one of history’s great idlers became one of literature’s greatest wits.

With falling exports, closing factories, and fear of social upheaval, we’ll look at what China does now, with top observers in Shanghai and Beijing.

On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Historian Edna Greene Medford explains what it meant for African Americans, and how it resonates in the era of Obama.

Top thinkers — economist Laura Tyson and world watcher Noah Feldman — survey the horizon for 2009.

Jazz legend Count Basie helped make the American soundtrack of the 1930s. We listen back, and ask if America has a soundtrack today.

Spy chief Stella Rimington, the real-life “M” who ran Britain’s M-I-5, talks spies, lies, and her high-drama thriller.

Israeli, Palestinian, and U.S. analysts on what’s next for Gaza — and the Middle East.

We’re going with the critics to the holiday movies — “Australia,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Valkyrie,” “Cadillac Records,” and many more.

Jhumpa Lahiri dazzled. Dexter Filkins brought the war home. Toni Morrison found “Mercy.” We’ll look back on these and many more of the best reads of 2008.

Browse and listen to our recent coverage of the economy and the crisis on Wall Street, including conversations with top economists, advisers to John McCain and Barack Obama, and market watchers.

See the archive of our 2008 presidential campaign coverage, from our interview with Barack Obama in October 2006 through the historic primary season and on into the general election.

See the special site we created for our week of broadcasts from Shanghai, where you’ll find all ten shows, along with links, slideshows, videos, music, and listener comments. Plus, our host Tom Ashbrook’s daily posts.

One of the great pleasures of directing On Point is that I hear just about every show we produce. And around the holidays, I listen back to some of our best shows to rebroadcast while the staff takes a well-deserved break.

Jay Parini, Middlebury College professor and jack-of-all-literary trades, makes the case in our second hour today for America’s thirteen “representative” books in his new tome “The Promised Land.” Of course, the idea of a great list or “canon” of hallowed must-reads

Today’s second hour looks at how the financial crisis is hitting higher education. And as belts tighten, it’s perhaps inevitable that executive compensation – the big payouts to people at the top – will come under scrutiny in academia as it has on Wall Street and in Detroit.

In his weekly address on Saturday, President-elect Obama outlined a huge public-works program – the biggest investment in the nation’s infrastructure since the creation of the interstate highway system under Eisenhower.