Segments by Date

Four years ago, novelist Ayelet Waldman sparked a controversy — and wound up on Oprah to defend herself — when she wrote in an essay that she loved her husband more than her children.

Under piles of manure lies the beetle world of sex and violence. University of Montana professor Douglas Emlen, an expert on the dung beetle, is particularly interested in the insects' weaponry.

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the Detroit label Westbound Records, which recorded early funk, disco and gospel in the 1970s.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews two new albums: Booker T. Jones's Potato Hole, and Allen Toussaint's The Bright Mississippi.

Despite the advice of grammarians, linguist Geoff Nunberg believes in the usefulness of the passive voice.

Hans Fallada's 1947 novel, Every Man Dies Alone, presents a memorable portrait of ordinary resistance to Nazism in wartime Germany.

Actor Gabriel Byrne is so convincing and sympathetic in his role as a psychoanalyst on the HBO series In Treatment that people have started telling him their problems.

New York Times writer covers national security issues; he discusses what the newly discovered documents reveal about Bush Administration policy, and what the fallout from their release may be.

A book about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay has led to an investigation by the Spanish court. In Torture Team, Philippe Sands alleges that high-ranking members of the Bush administration were responsible for instituting harsh interrogation tactics.

In 2000, police investigating the rape allegations of a 15-year-old girl on a remote Pacific island uncovered a trail of child abuse dating back at least three generations. Journalist Kathy Marks details the story in her new book, Lost Paradise.

Public intellectual George Scialabba contemplates the role of great — and not so great — thinkers in his new collection of essays, What Are Intellectuals Good For? Critic Maureen Corrigan calls it "a pleasure to read."

Fresh Air host Terry Gross remembers the star of Broadway's Mame and TV's Maude, who died April 26, with excerpts from a 2007 interview.

Journalist Elmer Smith continues his assessment of the ups and downs of the boxing champ's career.

In his new documentary, the director of Two Girls and a Guy turns his camera on Mike Tyson — who's been his friend since the former boxer was 19.

Journalist Elmer Smith first met Mike Tyson when the future heavyweight champion was just turning 18. Smith, who worked as a boxing writer, a general sports columnist and a general news columnist, went on to cover the ups and downs of the boxer's career.

James Toback has created a new documentary about Mike Tyson, the ex-boxing world champ. Movie critic David Edelstein says that Toback's mix of old and new footage "flows seamlessly" and that the stream-of-consciousness movie is "revelatory."

Rock historian Ed Ward explains how New York City's Tin Pan Alley songwriters coped with changing times in the 1960s.

In his new book, Secret Identity: The Fetish Art Of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster, Craig Yoe explores the risque art of the man behind Superman.

In her new memoir, When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win: Reflections on Looking in the Mirror, stand-up comedian and Seinfeld writer Carol Leifer recounts her experiences working as a comedian.

The grainy, blurry portrait of Ran Blake on the cover of his album, Driftwoods, looks like spirit photography: the pianist as ghostly presence. His playing can be spooky, too. The CD radically transforms popular vocal standards from Billie Holiday, Hank Williams, Quincy Jones and more.