Segments by Date

Collins was the leader of the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice. In 2005, he had two cerebral hemorrhages and doubted whether he'd ever make music again. But now he's back with his seventh solo album, Losing Sleep, which Ken Tucker says addresses the singer's past with "bracing clarity."

Tuesday marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the U.S. Civil War. Historian Adam Goodheart explains how national leaders and ordinary citizens across the country responded to the chaos and uncertainty in 1861: The Civil War Awakening.

Investigative reporter Charles Fishman says the past 100 years have been the golden age of water in the developed world — but now that's about to change. He profiles communities grappling with water shortages and details the efforts to conserve water in The Big Thirst.

The Smithereens' music contains touches of The Beatles and Buddy Holly, with a hint of metal and prog-rock. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the new Smithereens 2011 is fresh, joyous and as "neurotically rich as a David Lynch film."

James Franco and Danny McBride set off on a quest in David Gordon Green's action comedy Your Highness — a sword-and-sorcery spoof that David Edelstein says is fantastic if you're in the right gross-minded juvenile mood.

After 34 years, the British miniseries Upstairs, Downstairs will return to PBS on Sunday. TV critic David Bianculli says the surprisingly fresh yet faithful sequel was worth the wait — but now he wants more.

Singer-songwriter Brian Carpenter has cited places like Coney Island and the Florida Panhandle as inspiration for his work. On his latest album, Hothouse Stomp, Carpenter musically travels back to the jazz scene in 1920s Harlem and Chicago.

In Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans' Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter, underwater researcher Ellen Prager describes some of the craziest activities that help ocean creatures stay alive, fight predators, find food and reproduce.

New Yorker writer Dexter Filkins recently returned from Yemen, where he met with demonstrators who have called for President Ali Abdullah Saleh's immediate resignation. Filkins explains why Yemen's uprisings are particularly worrisome for U.S. counterterrorism officials.

A blockbuster Korean novel has just been translated into English, in which a mother from the country goes missing in Seoul. Fresh Air's Maureen Corrigan says the book delves deeply into traditional values, putting the mother's melancholy squarely on the shoulders of her grown (unappreciative) children.

During the 1898-1904 pox epidemic, public health officials and policemen forced thousands of Americans to be vaccinated against their will. Historian Michael Willrich examines that epidemic's far-reaching implications for individual civil liberties in Pox: An American History.

Paul Simon has again teamed up with producer Phil Ramone for his new album So Beautiful or So What, the first since 2006's Surprise. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the album succeeds in blending elements of Graceland and Simon's self-titled 1972 solo album.

Science journalist Marc Kaufman says we're closer than ever to finding out if there's life on other planets in the universe. He details the current research and challenges for scientists in First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth.

The less you know about the unnerving thrillers Source Code and Insidious the better, says critic David Edelstein. But only one of the two films "has so much emotional heft that it never loses that exhilarating jitter."

The new AMC drama The Killing tells the story of the murder of a young girl from three different perspectives. TV critic David Bianculli says the show is "AMC's most depressing series yet" -- and explains why it reminds him of the The X-Files, 24 and Twin Peaks.

Before the Fukushima disaster, nuclear power was being rebranded as a green form of energy. New York Times energy reporter Matt Wald explains how the situation in Japan is now raising questions about the safety and disposal of nuclear waste in the U.S.

African journalist Peter Godwin returned to his native Zimbabwe in 2008 to follow the presidential election. He writes about President Robert Mugabe's refusal to give up power -- and Mugabe's torture campaign against opposition supporters -- in The Fear.

In 1992, a cargo ship container tumbled into the North Pacific, dumping 28,000 toys into the ocean. What happened to those toys led writer Donovan Hohn on a worldwide journey filled with beachcombers, oceanographers, ship captains and environmentalists.

The Vagrants, one of New York City's most popular bands in the 1960s, recorded only 30 minutes' worth of music. Rock historian Ed Ward explains what happened to the band and why its music is worth hearing today.