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."
Critic Milo Miles reviews a pair of what he considers rarities — all-instrumental albums that don't belong to a clear school or style of music. But in the case of the band Massacre and the Claudia Quintet, he says that's a good thing.
Belli's first novel, "The Inhabited Woman," is about a young architect whose body becomes inhabited by the soul of an Indian woman from the time of the Conquistadors. The soul urges the young woman to abandon her privileged lifestyle and join an underground movement against the dictatorship. Belli is from an affluent Nicaraguan family. She studied English and advertising abroad before returning to Nicaragua and joining the Sandinistas and playing a role in the overthrow of Nicaragua's dictator Somoza.
Jonathan Cohn traveled the country in search of ordinary Americans who had been affected by America's health care crisis. The stories he found — of heart attack victims becoming casualties of overcrowded emergency rooms and diabetes patients going blind because they can't afford treatment — earned him the Harry Chapin Media Award for coverage of poverty-related issues, as well as praise from both journalism and health care professionals. They also became the core of his book Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis — and the People Who Pay the Price.
Jazz saxophonist Coleman, who is almost 85, rarely makes records any more. In New Vocabulary, he joins up trumpet and drums — and peppers his solos with his signature catchy and earthy pet phrases.
In the United States, Leigh's best known for his more recent films "Life is Sweet" "High Hopes" and "Naked." But he's been making movies for British television and theatre for nearly 30 years. His social-realist comedies depict British working class life. He begins work on his films without a script, piecing them together from improvisations with his cast. His latest is "Secrets & Lies."
Repression in Vladimir Putin's Russia, journalist Edward Lucas writes, is matched by a new aggression abroad. It amounts to what Lucas calls "a new Cold War" fought with cash, natural resources, diplomacy and propaganda.
Eric Dolphy's creativity was exploding early in 1964, and he was finding more players who could keep up. Out to Lunch is free and focused, dissonant and catchy, wide open and swinging all at once.
Gambian attorney Fatou Bensouda is the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which deals with genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The court's first case concerns crimes involving child soldiers. She has served as Attorney General, Secretary of State and Minister of Justice for The Gambia. She is also an authority on gender and violent crimes against women.
Ronstadt's new memoir, Feels Like Home, is an exploration of the food and culture of her Mexican roots. In 2013, she spoke about the health concerns that caused her to end her musical career early.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles songwriter Doc Pomus, the Brooklyn-born blues singer and songwriter who died in 1991. Born Jerome Solon Felder, he survived a childhood case of polio and went on to write hits for Ray Charles and Elvis Presley, among others. His songs include "Lonely Avenue," "Viva Las Vegas" and "Save the Last Dance for Me."
While some reviewers think River's Edge could become the Blue Valentine of 1987, film critic Stephen Schiff says the film suffers from a weak message and poor casting.
Voice and acting coach Patsy Rodenburg. She's worked with some of the world's leading English-speaking actors, including Judi Dench, Daniel Day-Lewis, Maggie Smith and Nicole Kidman. Rodenburg is the Director of Voice at London's National Theatre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She's the author of the new book, Speaking Shakespeare, and The Actor Speaks: Voice and the Performer.
Historian and author Douglas Brinkley teaches at Tulane University and was displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He has since returned to New Orleans and begun to document the catastrophe by gathering oral histories -- he hopes to collect as many as 20,000 -- for a book, tentatively titled The Great Deluge.
Medical ethicist Art Caplan. He's Director of the Center for Bioethics and Trustee Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. He'll talk with Terry about the ethics of death and dying and how the debate has changed since the Quinlan's first brought their case before the court. Caplan's most recent book is "Moral Matters: Ethical Issues in Medicine and the Life Sciences." (John Wiley & Sons).
Brad Bird's new sci-fi adventure film features George Clooney, Britt Robertson and an endless sense of possibilities. David Edelstein says the film makes a "near-hysterical case" against pessimism.
