Trivia question: Name this forgotten man, the subject of Ross Melnick’s eye-poppingly informative new book, “ American Showman ”: He was the most creative and most popular independent exhibitor of silent films at a series of movie palaces (seating up to 6,000 people) in New York during the 1920s. Read full article > >

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Book World: ‘American Showman’ by Ross Melnick

Trivia question: Name this forgotten man, the subject of Ross Melnick’s eye-poppingly informative new book, “ American Showman ”: He was the most creative and most popular independent exhibitor of silent films at a series of movie palaces (seating up to 6,000 people) in New York during the 1920s. Read full article > >

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Book World: ‘American Showman’ by Ross Melnick

“THE FREEDOM TO MARRY has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” So wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren in the 1967 ruling in Loving v. Virginia , the landmark case declaring unconstitutional the anti-miscegenation laws on the books in 16 states. Among those whose parents’ interracial marriage would have been illegal in Virginia at the time he was born is President Obama. On Wednesday, Mr. Obama for the first time declared his view that gay and lesbian Americans should be able to marry as well. Read full article > >

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Editorial Board: President Obama’s welcome support of gay marriage

North Carolina voters approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, dealing a setback to a gay rights movement that has enjoyed significant momentum in recent years. With less than a third of the returns tallied, the measure had enough support to pass, according to the Associated Press. It strengthens a same-sex marriage ban already on the books in North Carolina, which until Tuesday had been the only state in the Southeast that had not taken the step of incorporating the ban into its constitution. Read full article > >

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N.C. approves constitutional ban on same-sex marriage

Maurice Sendak illustrated nearly 100 books and won accolades for his fanciful tales. One critic called him the “the Picasso of children's literature.”

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‘Where the Wild Things Are’ author dies

Chef Jamie Oliver will be sitting down with CNN soon, and you can take part in the interview. Oliver is best known for his activism on improving the health of people around the world through better food buying choices and cooking know-how. He has hosted many TV series over the past 14 years, from “The Naked Chef” to “Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution,” and is the author of cookbooks including “Jamie at Home,” “Jamie's Ministry of Food” and “Jamie's 30 Minute Meals”. Would you like to ask him a question? If so, upload it to iReport on video (please keep all questions under 15 seconds long). Post your video by Friday, May 18 at noon ET, and you could see his response on CNN.com! IMPORTANT: If you are under 18, please provide contact information for a parent or guardian, otherwise we cannot ask your question. Click to watch video

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Got a question for Jamie Oliver?

The crowd at Barnes & Noble on Friday night is excited but disciplined. Oh, they know all about discipline . . . . These are the feverish fans of E L James’s “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the erotic novel that brought S&M out of the closet and into the suburbs. Spawned last year in the dark waters of online fan fiction, “Grey” has grown into a mega-selling trilogy, topping e-book and paperback charts. Newsweek ran a cover story last month about the series. On TV and op-ed pages, cultural pundits and feminists argue about what it means. Read full article > >

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‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ author E L James spreads the love in Washington

Our founding fathers and mothers of American literature mostly made their home in Concord, Mass., during the middle of the 19th century, and besotted English majors have told stories about them over the years: Read full article > >

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Book World: ‘Miss Fuller’ by April Bernard

Jeff Himmelman uses his new book, “Yours in Truth,” to take shots at Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and their 1974 book, “All the President’s Men.” But Himmelman’s fire does not come from the usual redoubt of Watergate revisionism. He is a former Woodward researcher, one who worked so diligently on “Maestro,” the reporter’s 2001 book about Alan Greenspan, that Woodward gushed about him in his author’s note. Read full article > >

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‘Yours in Truth’ by Jeff Himmelman: Bob Woodward is the star of new Ben Bradlee book

Several young authors of financial advice books say they were taught at an early age to be mindful about money.

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Your Money: How to Raise a Financial Guru

In 2005, a CIA analyst named Rebecca (a pseudonym) wrote a memo laying out a new strategy for the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Given the absence of any real leads, she asked, how could you plausibly find him? She sketched out what she saw as four pillars on which the search needed to be built. Her solution turned out to be prophetic. Read full article > >

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Manhunt: The Ten Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad by Peter L. Bergen

Thirty-something years ago, Martha Grimes was a single mom with a drinking problem. She bought vodka – Smirnoff, Stolichnaya — in half-gallon jugs. She taught English 101 at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, a job she couldn’t stand. She argued so vehemently with post office clerks about mailing rates for her manuscripts — she wanted the cheaper book rate — that her son, embarrassed, preferred to wait in the car. Read full article > >

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Martha Grimes named ‘Grand Master” of mystery writers

I’m an organ donor. The instant I kick the proverbial bucket and head off to push up daisies and join the blooming choir invisible, the organ goes to the most deserving, pipes and pedals and all. Hang on . . . I’m being told that this joke was already told to death in 1959 sometime. Read full article > >

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Alexandra Petri: Facebook’s organ donor program and the fine print

Three of Wales’ NHS boards failed to balance the books and are bailed out with £12m from the Welsh government, BBC Wales reveals.

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NHS boards given £12m lifeline

When Robert A. Caro published “ Master of the Senate ” (2002), the third volume of his voluminous multi-part life of Lyndon B. Johnson, he said he would finish his labors with just one more installment. But clearly he wasn’t being realistic. Read full article > >

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Book review: Robert A. Caro’s ‘The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson’