Ayad Akhtar's debut novel, American Dervish, tells the story of a Pakistani-American boy in Milwaukee coming to terms with his religion and identity. Akbar drew on his own experiences exploring the Muslim faith as a teenager growing up in Wisconsin.
The Iranian film A Separation won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday. Critic John Powers says the remarkable film takes viewers inside a country that is far more complicated and fascinating than news headlines indicate.
Two more shows to add to your 2012 list: Justified, which returns to FX Tuesday night for its third season, and Alcatraz, a new Fox drama and the latest from producer J.J. Abrams. TV critic David Bianculli explains why they're both worth watching.
Michelle Alexander says that many of the gains of the civil rights movement have been undermined by the mass incarceration of blacks in the war on drugs.
Meryl Streep stars as Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's biopic about the former prime minister of the United Kingdom. Film critic David Edelstein applauds her performance, calling it "one of the greatest impersonations I'd ever seen."
The Souther actor discusses playing a white supremacist turned born-again Christian on the critically acclaimed FX series Justified -- and how he gets into the mind-set to play one of TV's worst bad boys.
The actor is so good at what he does, you might not recognize him from role to role. He's played everyone from Sid Vicious and Dracula, to Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films, and now George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
YouTube's future success depends on increasing the amount of time people spend watching videos on the site. The Google-owned website plans to roll out more than 100 new, professionally produced channels in a push to draw viewers away from television, and onto the Web.
Fricke was one of the most popular country-music vocalists of the 1980s/ Between 1982 and 1984, she scored six No. 1 hits. Since then, her career has dimmed, but now she's back, having arranged some of her biggest hits with bluegrass instrumentation.
The veteran broadcaster returns to public television with a new public affairs program. Critic David Bianculli says it might be hard to find, but it's important to watch.
Shalom Auslander's Hope: A Tragedy takes on genocide, identity politics and Anne frank (now elderly and squatting in a farmhouse in upstate New York) with grim humor and daring irreverence.
In Intel Wars, historian Matthew Aid details how bureaucratic polices and a glut of raw data have weakened the intelligence community in its war against would-be terrorists.
CBS has revamped its morning show, which now has new hosts, a new set and a new focus: more hard news, less soft entertainment. TV critic David Bianculli says the new format works -- as long as the network makes good on its news-oriented focus.
New York Times Washington correspondent Jodi Kantor interviewed more than 200 sources, including White House aides and friends of the Obamas, to paint a portrait of the first family's life inside the White House.
It's hard to believe today, but in the mid-1950s, Los Angeles didn't mean much in terms of popular music. But the coming of rock 'n' roll meant an infusion of tiny record labels -- and one was Dore, run by a happy-go-lucky guy named Lew Bedell. Ed Ward tells its short, crazy story here.
The orphaned German shepherd was found in the wreckage of a kennel during World War I. Writer Susan Orlean details how he became one of the biggest film stars of the silent era in Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend.
Lea first had success in 1955, with her album A Woman in Love, and was rediscovered in t he late 1970s. She died last week at 82. Fresh Air remembers Lea with excerpts from a 1991 interview and in-studio performance.
Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has been adapted into a movie starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock. Critic David Edelstein says the end result doesn't fully mesh with the story it is trying to tell.
From new offerings like House of Lies to favorites like Californication and Downton Abbey, there are a plethora of options to watch this weekend. David Bianculli runs down what's on and explains which ones are worth watching.
