When Emily Dickinson died in the 1880s, she was a reclusive, barely published writer. Today, she is a fully canonized, iconic poet. Former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins says the progress of her status was unprecedented.
Theatre producer Scott Rudin always wanted to be a producer and at age 15 he started working in producers' offices on Broadway. He went on to create his own production company and produced the Broadway hit The Book of Mormon. Five of his shows are currently nominated for Tony Awards.
Herman's Hermits hit the American pop charts 22 times in the 1960s and early '70s. Now, a new anthology compiles 66 of the Hermits' tracks. Rock historian Ed Ward considers how the music has held up.
Rock historian Ed Ward remembers Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker, who died last week at the age of 64. His 1969 hit "Israelites" was for many Americans the first reggae they'd ever heard.
In 2013, a documentary team followed former Congressman Anthony Weiner in his bid to become mayor of New York. When a scandal hit, the cameras kept rolling. Film critic David Edelstein reviews Weiner.
New Yorker writer Jane Mayer discusses conservative activist James O'Keefe's latest botched sting operation, and the new kind of political opposition research O'Keefe pioneered.
While serving as a State Department adviser in Iraq and Afghanistan, J. Kael Weston instigated a military mission that resulted the death of 31 service members. His memoir revisits the tragedy of war.
The suspense stories on Maureen Corrigan's early summer reading list roam from the beaches of Long Island to the Welsh coast, and from the mean streets of Chicago to the alleyways of Berlin.
Musician Laurel Sprengelmeyer — aka Little Scream — refers to prayer, devotion, heaven and Satan on her new album. Critic Ken Tucker calls Cult Following a "testament to desire and endurance."
Susan Silverman, on her sister comic Sarah Silverman, growing up secular Jewish and becoming a rabbi, adopting two Ethiopian boys, and how she was affected by the death of a sibling when she was very young.
In Rebecca Miller's comedy, an affair leads to divorce and remarriage — until the new wife decides she wants out. Critic David Edelstein says that Maggie's Plan doesn't quite come together.
Documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm have offered new insight into how easy it is for the rich and corrupt to hide their assets. McClatchy's Kevin Hall has been reporting on the documents.
Drummer Ralph Peterson's partners are two brothers who are a generation younger than him. The album Triangular III catches this working band in action.
The creator of the ABC sitcom "black. . ish" draws on his own experience for his show about an affluent African-american family living in a wealthy white suburb. . . where their privileged children lose touch with black culture. "black. . . ish" will receive a coveted Peabody award this weekend.
Pulitzer prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen says he wants to take the narrative of the Vietnam war created by Americans and retell it from the perspective of the Vietnamese. His family left Vietnam after the fall of Saigon when he was 4.
How Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show music videos, James Corden's Carpool Karaoke, and Jerry Seinfeld's Comediens in Cars are changing how comedy is being viewed online.