Nick Laird is an award winning Northern Irish novelist and poet whose witty and politically informed writing is better known in Europe than America. Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews his new novel "Modern Gods."
Allen mixes African, European and American beats on his new album, A Tribute to Art Blakey. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the record showcases the way that musicians "bat ideas back and forth."
Elliott says that being selective about the roles he takes has helped him maintain his acting career for nearly 50 years. He plays an aging actor with a stalled career in the new film, The Hero.
West Virginia has the highest drug overdose death rate in the country. New Yorker writer Margaret Talbot interviewed addicts, their families and health professionals to understand why.
Director Edgar Wright rejects computer-generated unreality and instead focuses on breathtaking driving in his new heist thriller. Critic David Edelstein says the result is terrifically entertaining.
Vox.com correspondent Sarah Kliff says Republicans determined to replace and repeal Obamacare are finding it's "awfully difficult to write a bill that would get rid of it entirely."
You'll root for 13-year-old Mija at every step of this new Netflix film. And Okja, the huge, genetically modified pig, is among the most touching and realistic computer-generated characters ever made.
Tales from the American West are marked by heroism, romance and plenty of cruelty. Among those stories, the saga of the Donner Party stands alone — a band of pioneers set out in covered wagons for California, and eventually, stranded, snowbound and starving, resorted to cannibalism.
Author James Ledbetter says many of the nation's worst economic catastrophes happened while on the gold standard. His new book traces the fascination with gold as a symbol of permanence and quality.
Since the 1990s, New York trumpet player Steven Bernstein has been the ringleader of this occasional quartet. This recent album was recorded at a home studio and its rough-hewn quality is just right.
Berry, who died in March at the age of 90, left behind an album of new material, his first such collection since 1979. Rejecting nostalgia, Berry's last project is interesting and energetic.
In both of these period pieces — one set in the 1970s, the other in the 1980s — women have it tough, whether they're wrestling with their demons, or actually wrestling.
Wired's Andy Greenberg says Ukraine has been the victim of a "cyber-assault unlike any the world has ever seen." Cybersecurity experts think Russia is perfecting attacks that could be used on the U.S.
Comedian Kumail Nanjiani steps into the leading role in a semi-autobiographical love story. It's a quietly groundbreaking crowd-pleaser, though some characters aren't as fully dimensional as others.
On his first day in the seventh grade, Sherman Alexie opened up his school-assigned math book and found his mother's maiden name written in it. "I was looking at a 30-year-old math book," he says — and that was the moment he knew that he needed to leave his home.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has figured something out: "I learned how to become one of the most popular politicians in America," he says. "Announce that you are not running for president, and be authentic."
The title of Maile Meloy's new novel is misleading: Do Not Become Alarmed sounds like a suspense story. Granted, I did read it in two nights; but, while I'm a unapologetic fan of thrillers, Meloy's novel is something else, something trickier to characterize. I'd call it a very smart work of literary fiction that exposes how very thin the layer of good luck is that keeps most of us from falling into the abyss.
