In their new book "Distraction: Girls, School, and Sexuality," two Illinois State University professors explore the way regulation and school practices sexualize school-age girls from pre-school through adulthood. They joined The 21st to talk about the value placed on the education of kids of different genders, as well as the burdens forced on young women in schools and the effect of labeling girls as a "distraction." 

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign journalism professor Nikki Usher talked about their book, News for the Rich, White and Blue, How Place And Power Distort American Journalism, which argues that news is increasingly geared toward people who are rich, white, and lean Democratic. 

Dawn Turner grew up on the south side of Chicago and went on to have a successful career as a columnist at the Chicago Tribune. But her sister and best friend were not so fortunate. Turner recounts the different paths their lives took in her new memoir, Three Girls from Bronzeville.

Novelist and Illinois native Dave Eggers' latest book, The Captain and the Glory, is an allegory about a large cruise ship that replaces a respected, experienced captain with someone who is none of those things.

Steve Inskeep has written a new book: Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab. We talk with Inskeep about his new book, and the lessons within for today.