Small cities

Price is up for the 2019 Grammy Award for best new artist. She spoke to Fresh Air in 2017 about growing up in the small town of Aledo, Ill.: "Now, when I go back, I see the beauty in it."

In Jennifer Haigh's new novel Heat & Light she examines what happens when fracking comes to a small Pennsylvania town. Maureen Corrigan describes the book as Haigh's "most ambitious - and compelling - novel yet."

Much has been made of the effects the recent financial crisis will have on "Main Street." Linguist Geoff Nunberg. He discusses how this term gained such popular — and presidential — usage.

Bob Ortega is an investigative journalist for The Wall Street Journal. He's the author of the new book, "In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and How Wal-Mart Is Devouring America" (Times Business/Random House). The book looks at how Wal-Mart went from a tiny variety store in backwater Arkansas to one of the world's largest corporations. In doing so, Wal-Mart's business practices have been imitated by other businesses and criticized for its impact on communities, and treatment of workers.

Journalist Ron Powers. Powers new book, "Far From Home, " examines the decline of the small town in America. To illustrate the point, Powers profiled the decline of Cairo, Illinois and Kent Connecticut.

Humorist, writer, and storyteller Garrison Keillor is the host of the radio show "A Prairie Home Companion," which is inspired by the Grand Ol' Opry and takes place in the fictional place of Lake Woebegone, Minnesota. His latest book is "Lake Woebegone Days."