Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new album from the prolific composer and pianist Fred Hersch. It's called Fred Hersch Pocket Orchestra, Live at the Jazz Standard.
Recently issued in paperback, Joseph O'Neill's novel Netherland emerged to immediate acclaim in 2008, and many critics — including Fresh Air's Maureen Corrigan — placed it on a footing with The Great Gatsby.
Hombre Lobo is the first studio album in five years by the act known as Eels. Frontman Mark Oliver Everett — better known to his fans as "E" — turns in what he calls "12 songs of desire."
Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, talks about his new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Anderson theorizes that businesses can profit by giving it all away on the internet.
An exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts is both an art history lesson and a celebration of the most sumptuous works of Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese.
Journalist Michael Carey — former editorial page editor and current columnist for the Anchorage Daily News — discusses Alaska's reaction to Sarah Palin's announcement that she will step down as governor of the state.
Colette Burson and Dmitry Lipkin are the writers behind HBO's series Hung, about a hapless schoolteacher — with one substantial asset — who finds an unorthodox way to make ends meet.
Short but not so sweet, Kate Walbert's melancholy new novel, A Short History of Women, follows five generations of women. Maureen Corrigan has a review.
Playing Shakespeare, a 1984 series in which actors dissect some of the Bard's most famous works, shows how crucial an understanding of Shakespeare's language and versification are to conveying the meaning — and power — of his scenes.
Former defense secretary Robert McNamara died Monday. In a 1995 interview with Terry Gross, McNamara reflects on Vietnam and admits his serious doubts about US policy and the decision-making that escalated the war.
When it came out in 1961, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad perplexed and excited audiences with its surrealistic storytelling. John Powers has a review of the film's Criterion Collection re-release.
Author and activist Roya Hakakian offers her take on political upheaval in her native Iran. Hakakian emigrated from Iran to the United States in 1985, seeking political asylum.
This lush, good-looking crime flick doesn't really have a theme, and it never quite sparks to life. But it's got lots of incidental pleasures — Johnny Depp's spirited performance chief among them.
In the book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, author Jeff Sharlet examines the power wielded by the secret Christian group known as The Family or The Fellowship.
Washington Post reporter Dan Balz sizes up the state of the Republican party — including how the GOP is preparing for 2012 and how it has been affected by recent sex scandals.
Journalist and lawyer Adam Liptak covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times. He gives us a roundup of this year's most important decisions — some of which were left for the final hours before summer recess.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Patterson Hood's new album Murdering Oscar and Other Love Songs. It's Hood's second solo album featuring songs from the early 90's as well as some more recent ones, all of them have been freshly recorded over the past few years.
