"Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America" (Viking), by Dan Balz   Heading into the 2012 presidential election season, President Barack Obama had...

At age 80, Wayne Shorter isn't ready to rest on his reputation as one of the greatest composers in jazz history. Instead, whenever he performs the saxophonist can't resist the urge to...

Christopher Plummer may be frozen in some filmgoers' memories as the noble-browed patriarch who made stern parenting and anti-Nazism sexy in "The Sound of Music."   But Plummer...

"One Summer: America, 1927" (Doubleday), by Bill Bryson   In retrospect, most summers seem pretty much alike: vacations in the country, lazy days at the beach and less tedious...

NBC's new comedy "Welcome to the Family" starts with an unfortunate image problem.   The series, which debuts Thursday (8:30 p.m. EDT), is about an aimless California girl from...

Justin Timberlake, "The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2" (RCA Records)   The anticipation that surrounded Justin Timberlake's return to music was intense. It took seven years for him...

With its playful mingling of fantasy and reality, James Thurber's beloved short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" has seemed the stuff of movies since its initial publication in...

Nelly, "M.O." (Republic Records)   Nelly's seventh studio album isn't a total waste of time if you have the patience to get through the first...

Ja Rule, who recently spent nearly two years behind bars for illegal gun possession, landed a role in a new movie because screenwriter Galley Molina empathized with the rapper's...

MGMT, "MGMT" (Columbia)   Leave your preconceptions at the door — the new self-titled MGMT album is worlds apart from the group's debut "Oracular Spectacular"...