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What's on America's summer reading list? All Things Considered asked listeners around the country -- including a rancher, a nuclear engineer, a retiree and an elementary school student -- what theyre reading this summer. Their choices range from best-selling fiction to the history of Egyptian mythology. (2:15) The Dying Ground, by Nichelle Tramble is published by Random House. The music comes from the CD's Sweet Tea, by Buddy Guy, on Silvertone Records Ltd. and I am Shelby Lynne, by Shelby Lynne from Island records.

Lisa talks to Professor Andrew Levy of Butler University about a little-known early American named Robert Carter, who freed his slaves at a time when George Washington and Thomas Jefferson didn't. Levy's article on Carter appeared in the Spring issue of The American Scholar.

A new book pays tribute to Antonio Prohias, the Cuban-born creator of the "Spy vs. Spy" comic strip still seen in MAD magazine 40 years later.

Host Bob Edwards has the story of Holland Island, and the man who is trying to save it. Like many Chesapeake Bay islands, Holland is slowly being lost to rising tides and erosion. The island was once home to more than three hundred people, but now most of its buildings are underwater, and the rest will probably follow. But its 71-year-old owner Stephen White is fighting that fate.

Children with severe mental disabilities often need expensive treatment or round-the-clock supervision. NPR's Joanne Silberner profiles one family that had to give up custody of their child because they could not afford the care he needed.

NPR's Howard Berkes traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where a 4,000-acre blaze came close to destroying dozens of homes, some valued in the millions of dollars. Many of the houses had taken no steps to make them more fire resistant.

Noah Adams travels to Southwestern Virginia to talk to people there about the pain-relief drug OxyContin. Now is the best selling narcotic pain medication in America, the drug has proven to be highly-effective for many users, but OxyContin is also being abused for fun and profit, and reports of overdoses and addiction to the drug have been steadily increasing.

As part of the Changing Face of America Series, NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports on the way the power to sue has changed both companies and consumers. The number of lawsuits filed hasn't really gone up, but more people are becoming comfortable with them as a way to attack the companies they see as irresponsible or dangerous. And the threat of litigation has businesses on the defensive.

Robert Siegel speaks with Bill and Miriam Brownwell, who founded WeTip, a non-profit organziation where citizens can anonymously report information regarding a crime. The Bromwells says that citizens fear reprisal from criminals if they report crimes to the police, so they act as the neutral third party.

From the Midwest to the East Coast, millions of Americans are feeling the dog days of summer. High temperatures combined with high humidity -- the so-called "heat index" -- are pushing the mercury into the triple digits across much of the nation.