Yoko Ono is best known for her marriage to John Lennon and was vilified by the press in the 1960s for her perceived role in the breakup of the Beatles. Kevin Concannon (Virginia Tech), an expert on Ono’s work, notes she was an accomplished and innovative artist long before she met Lennon. Plus: A new novel by Fred D’Aguiar (Virginia Tech) tells the story of a mother and daughter caught up in the tragic Jonestown mass suicide of 1978.

Later in the show: Americans have been getting their kicks from Route 66 since John Steinbeck labeled it “The Mother Road” in The Grapes of Wrath. Michael Lund (Longwood University) is fascinated by the nostalgic small town life found along “America’s Main Street.” Lund is the author of a series of Route 66 novels. And: Jack Kerouac wrote about his travels along Route 66 in On the Road, the novel that made him a literary success. Gordon Ball (Virginia Military Institute) says Kerouac’s novel about the Beat Generation is as relevant today as it was in the 1950s.