The man who gave us the electric guitar was more than just an insatiably curious tinkerer: He was a virtuoso guitarist and at one time a bona fide pop star, and he helped shape the sound of rock 'n' roll. Fresh Air remembers him with an archived interview from 1992.
Historian Nelson Lichtenstein discusses the impact of Wal-Mart on both the American and the global economy in his new book, The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business.
Lisa Sanders' monthly "Diagnosis" column in The New York Times Magazine was an inspiration for the TV series House. Sanders, an internist on the faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine, is the show's technical advisor; her new book is Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis.
Puppies Behind Bars is a canine training program that enlists prison inmates to train puppies as bomb-sniffing dogs or as service animals. Many of the dogs are then paired with wounded or disabled veterans.
Thomas Pynchon's latest novel, Inherent Vice, is a detective romp set at the end of the 1960s psychedelic era. Critic-at-large John Powers has a review.
Charles Sennott has been reporting on the Taliban since 1995. He recently returned to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he revisited the people and places he got to know through his reporting.
With a national health-care conversation in high gear, linguist Geoff Nunberg notes that "government" (as in "government-run plan") wasn't always such a dirty word. From "G-men" to "government bureaucrats," on this edition of Fresh Air.
Writer-director Max Mayer's latest film is a romantic comedy in which — what else? — boy meets girl. In Adam, boy has Asperger's syndrome; it's a high-functioning variant of autism that can cause social awkwardness. The film won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance.
Cult director John Waters discusses his friendship with Manson family member and convicted murderer Leslie Van Houten, who he believes should be released on parole.
Screenwriter Budd Schulberg, who wrote the screenplay for On the Waterfront, died Aug. 5 at age 95. Fresh Air remembers him with an interview he gave in 1990 — plus excerpts of chats with Elia Kazan and Eva Marie Saint.
In his latest film, Paul Giamatti plays himself, or a version of himself: A neurotic actor who has his soul frozen to relieve him of his crippling anxiety. He joins Fresh Air to talk about life, art and blurring the lines between.
Jennifer Weiner's latest novel, Best Friends Forever, is much sharper than its dopey title would suggest. With a nod to Thelma and Louise, Weiner's Addie and Valerie rekindle a friendship that fizzled decades ago.
Country singer George Strait is surpassed only by Elvis Presley and The Beatles in the number of platinum-selling albums he's had. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his new album, Twang.
In 1993, a freighter with 300 terrified, half-starved Chinese immigrants went aground off the shore of Queens, New York. Author Patrick Radden Keefe chronicles the incident in his new book The Snakehead.
Washington Post military correspondent Ann Scott Tyson was recently embedded with Marines in Afghanistan fighting in Helmand Province, a stronghold of the Taliban.
"One of the great iconoclasts in 20th-century art," Merce Cunningham revolutionized modern dance, pioneering abstract movement with his partner John Cage. Cunningham died July 26 at the age of 90.
Two summer movies — The Proposal and The Ugly Truth — perpetuate misogynist stereotypes of rabid career women in need of a man. What does it mean that they were created by women?
The actor appears in the new comedy Funny People as well as the drama The Time Traveler's Wife, due out soon. He got his start doing standup and sketch comedy in Australia.
Louie Psihoyos' new film graphically — and movingly — documents the sale and slaughter of dolphins captured by Japanese fishermen. David Edelstein says the movie could be a game-changer for the industry.
Director Louie Psihoyos talks about his new documentary film The Cove, an expose of dolphin abuse in Japan. Former Flipper trainer Ric O'Barry joins the conversation.
