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In the English-speaking world, to talk with ones hands is a sign of poor breeding. For Arabs of all social levels, however, gestures are an indispensable part of any conversation. To tie an Arabs hands while he is speaking, writes Robert A. Barakat in the Journal of Popular Culture, is tantamount to tying his tongue.

The greatest lie country music ever told was convincing the world that it is white. That hillbilly music turned white at the turn of the 20th century. And that Black musicians who created this music, alongside low-income white people, were suddenly classified under race music. The lie became a truth.

INSIDE U.S.A. (979 pp.)John GuntherHarper ($5). Sooner or later, it was bound to happen: Journalist John Gunther, who has made a tidy fortune exploring the insides of Europe, Asia and Latin America, would some day try to get inside the U.S. He has, at lastabout as far inside as he ever gets. His conclusion (in

March 2, 2016 2:51 AM EST China has seized a disputed atoll off the coast of the Philippines in the South China Sea, Philippine media reported on Wednesday, with at least five Chinese ships denying access to Filipino fishermen.

More than a trillion cicadas will be coming to the U.S. in an event that has not happened since Thomas Jefferson was U.S. president in 1803. Two adjacent broods of the red-eyed flying cicadas will emerge from the ground in April, and residents in the Midwest and Southeast should brace themselves for a season of