For a while now, we've been listening to grim news from Europe and watching GOP candidates compete for attention from fickle voters. In this week's essay, guest host Linda Wertheimer reflects on the simple joys of fall in an otherwise uneasy season.

The first time NPR's Don Gonyea heard Druha Trava play was in 2009, when he was covering President Obama's trip to Europe. On the campaign trail two years later, Gonyea stumbled across the band again — in Iowa.

It's Veterans Day, and the families of soldiers who have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan can celebrate together. But coming home isn't always easy. Navy veteran and author Karl Marlantes offers this essay on his return from Vietnam — and he explains why coming home today isn't any easier.

Is a picture worth a thousand war stories? Suzanne Opton, author of Soldier/Many Wars, took photos of veterans to find out. In one series, she had them adopt a vulnerable position by laying their heads on a table, while in another, she draped them with fabric to explore roles like warrior, martyr, saint.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Thousands of Americans were killed that day. But Frank Curre, who was just a teenager when he enlisted in the Navy, survived the onslaught. He was assigned to the USS Tennessee.

Fifty years ago Norton Juster sat down and tried to remember the confusion and dislocation of childhood. His memories became a book, and The Phantom Tollbooth was born. In this essay, Juster looks back at his beloved novel, and the bored, disconnected child who grew up to write it.