Historian Mary Beard says many of our popular notions about the empire are based on culture rather than fact. Her new book is called SPQR. Originally broadcast Nov. 30, 2015.
Two masked robbers clean out small branches of a Texas bank in David Mackenzie's new neo-Western. Critic David Edelstein calls Hell or High Water a work of "broad scale and deep feeling."
Journalist Rukmini Callimachi on what she's learned about ISIS tactics from her conversations with a German man who joined ISIS and became disillusioned, and from monitoring the organization's own encrypted social media channels.
Merle Streep sings badly in the new film Florence Foster Jenkins, based on a NYC heiress and arts patron who performed arias and art songs totally off key, but made recordings and performed at Carnegie Hall. Streep is actually a very good singer which she's shown in previous films.
The 1960s show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In turned actress Goldie Hawn into a star. Later, she starred in the films Cactus Flower, Swing Shift, and Private Benjamin. Hawn's autobiography, written with Wendy Holden, is Goldie: A Lotus Grows in the Mud.
Critic Ken Tucker reviews new music by the British punk band The Mekons and the American country-rock band The Mavericks. Both groups have recorded new songs that were inspired by recent news events.
The National Book Award winner's new novel is based in part on her memories of growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s. Woodson describes the teen years as an "amazing and urgent moment" in life.
Pianist and composer Dave Burrell was an important part of the free jazz scene of the 1960s, recording with Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown, Archie Shepp and others. His new CD with his Full-Blown Trio, Expansion, marks Burrell's first recording for a U.S. label in almost 40 years.
Megan Abbott's new book takes readers deep into the intense, vacuum-sealed universe of young female gymnasts and their parents. Critic Maureen Corrigan says You Will Know Me is worthy of a gold medal.
In his new novel, The Underground Railroad, Whitehead returns to his childhood vision of the Underground Railroad as an actual locomotive that carries escaped slaves through tunnels.
As their parents engage in a bitter real-estate dispute, the friendship between two adolescent boys deepens in Ira Sach's new film. Critic David Edelstein calls Little Men "quietly devastating.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and essayist William Stanley Merwin was known in the 1960s as an anti-war poet. Now an environmental activist, Merwin has published a new book of poems, The Shadow of Sirius, which addresses themes of memory and mortality.
While on tour for her album, Over and Even, Shelley stopped by WHYY to play some of her songs along with accompanist Nathan Salsburg. She tells Fresh Air's Sam Briger she's always wanted to perform.
The Late Late Show host talks about belting out songs with celebrities like Elton John, Steve Wonder and Adele. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross he doesn't know what he did to deserve this great gig.
"The '70s were a toxic, dangerous, scary time in America" says Jeffrey Toobin. His new book puts the kidnapping, crimes and trial of Patty Heart in the context of those times.
Dean Burnett says the human brain is like a computer that files information in a way that defies logic. According to Burnett, brains can alter memory, cause motion sickness and affect intelligence.
In her comedy special Baby Cobra, Wong speaks frankly about sensitive topics, including prejudice within the Asian-American community, interracial dating and her own miscarriage. She says her decision to film the special while pregnant was a personal one.
