University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein discusses the death of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and President Bush's nomination of John G. Roberts to replace him.
A new 2-CD set features a decades-old recording of Mingus and his quintet at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival. Citic Kevin Whitehead says the album showcases one of Mingus' most explosive bands.
Guitarist Al Casey died Sunday of colon cancer at age 89, days short of his 90th birthday on Sept. 15. Casey's distinctive style helped to define the sound of Fats Waller's band in the 1930s and 1940s. Casey also played with Louis Armstrong, Teddy Wilson and Billie Holliday. (This interview originally aired May 19, 2004.)
A hard look at one of the world’s leading management consultants, McKinsey & Company. Though the firm says it‘s values-driven, investigative reporters Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe find it’s made millions from ethically questionable work, helping clients increase profits by harming workers and consumers. Their book is When McKinsey Comes to Town.
Ben Yagoda is the author of When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It. It's a guide to writing that capitalizes on the lively advice of writers from Mark Twain (author of the title quote) to Stephen King.
Guardian journalist Shaun Walker talks about Yevgeny Prigozhin, the tough-talking convict-turned-businessman who recruits soldiers from Russian prisons to fight in Ukraine. "It's just so out of the realms of fantasy that this former convict is going to fly around prisons in his helicopter and offer people salvation for fighting for him at the front, and then lead these battalions of prisoners to their almost certain death," He says. "It's so dystopian that it's really hard to believe. But yet it has happened."
Music Critic Milo Miles talks about Los Del Rio's hit "Macarena." It even comes with its own dance. Miles says, given the songs substance, its popularity will likely be just a fad.
Increasingly catchy terminology is used to package government missions and policies. Consider "war on terror" and "no child left behind," for instance. Linguist Geoff Nunberg offers his thoughts on the subject.
NY Times journalist Jeanna Smialek says the Fed has expanded its reach in recent years — in part because of the pandemic, but also due to changing expectations related to accountability and fairness.
Critic Ken Tucker reviews the home video release of The Great Ziegfeld, a biopic about the famed impresario. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, an honor Tucker says was undeserved. Yet the film is fun, despite some slow moments, and paints a clear picture of a bygone era of of Hollywood.
In her new book, By Hands Now Known, Margaret Burnham reports on little-known cases of racial violence in the Jim Crow era, including crimes that went unreported and murderers who were never punished.
Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new comedy Casa de mi Padre, starring Will Ferrell. It's a Spanish-language American film created in the style of a telenovela.
Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University Mary Jo Weaver. Her previous book is "Springs of Water in a Dry Land: Spiritual Survival for Catholic Women Today," (Beacon) about women who are Catholic and feminist. Her book, "New Catholic Women: A Contemporary Challenge to Traditional Religious Authority," (Indiana University Press) has a new 10th anniversary edition. Weaver's latest book (edited with R. Scott Appleby) "Being Right: Conservative Catholics in America" is a collection of essays (Indiana University Press).
John Lasseter, chief creative executive of Pixar, Inc, talks about the animation company's new feature film, Cars. Lasseter is a founding member of Pixar and served as director and animator of the feature films Toy Story, its sequel and A Bug's Life.
Joshua Quitner and Michelle Slatalla are authors of "Speeding The Net: The Inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged Microsoft." (Atlantic Monthly Press) Quittner is the computer columnist for Time magazine and an assistant managing editor at Time Inc's on-line site Pathfinder. Slatalla writes a technology column for The New York Times. They have also collaborated on the books: "Masters of Deception," "Flame War," "Mother's Day," and "Shoo-Fly Pie to Die."
Language critic Geoffrey Nunberg talks about the accuracy of automatic grammar checkers included with computer word processing programs like Microsoft Word.
Stephen Schiff reviews "Hero," directed by Stephen Frears and starring Dustin Hoffman, Joan Cusack, Geena Davis, and Andy Garcia. It's got a twisting plot reminiscent of films from the 1930s and '40s.
The next installment of the Harry Potter series comes out tomorrow. Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the Harry Potter books and the hype around them.
