Society & Culture

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone previews a 5-hour NBC miniseries on the 1913 hanging of a Jewish factory manager in Atlanta, Georgia following the murder a 13-year-old employee of the factory. The case hinged on racial hatred, in this case the prevailing enmity toward Jews, and Laurie praises the production's exploration of how racial divisions have been exploited for political effect. The miniseries is titled "The Murder of Mary Phagan."

Jan Harold Brunvand explores the urban legend about a dead cat package that gets stolen before it reaches its resting place.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Mothers of Invention, a book about the the unrecognized role women had in the technological breakthroughs of the modern era. The authors are Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek.

Vincent Harding. He was the first director of the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta. He worked with Dr. King during the Civil Rights Movement and he's written a history of the struggle for civil rights titled There is a River.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone shares her thoughts on the sexual politics of the popular new movie "Broadcast News."

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the movie "3 Men and a Baby."

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses the language of post-modernism.

Kate Clinton. She's a stand-up comedian whose routines focus on sexual politics.

Fresh Air's language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg.

Jan Harold Brunvand explores a popular misconception about the poinsettia plant ... that it is poisonous or toxic.

Susie Orbach and Luise Eichenbaum discuss their new book Between Women: Love, Envy and Competition in Women's Friendships. Ohrbach and Eichenbaum are psychotherapists and best friends.

Fresh Air's rock historian Ed Ward discusses the roots of his own musical tastes.

Comedian Richard Belzer. After struggling through a poor and difficult childhood and a rough decade trying to make it as a comic, he is now performing in comedy clubs from coast to coast. He is also appearing in movies, and starring in comedy specials on cable TV.

Fresh Air's Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone, whose writing on contemporary culture appears regularly in The Village Voice.

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg addresses the lengths companies go to in order to come up with the right names for new products.

Father Michael Doyle. He's the pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Camden, New Jersey, which sits in the center of a rundown neighborhood in one of the most depressed cities on the East coast. A deeply religious man who over the years has had his differences with the church hierarchy, Fr. Doyle has committed his church to social change and helping the poor.

Writer James Wolcott, who's now a regular columnist on culture for Vanity Fair.

Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, who headed the six-year effort to fly a plane around the world without refueling. They completed their nine-day flight in their light-weight craft called The Voyager on December 23, 1986. They have written a book describing the adventure.

Jan Harold Brunvand traces the urban legends surrounding college exams.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses whether it's possible, or even desirable, to eliminate gender bias in language.