Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University and a retired Army colonel, discusses his new book, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism.
Joel and Ethan Coen's new black comedy sets its dim-bulb characters careening through a blackmail-and-infidelity plot. The cast is top notch, but the directors seem so little invested, they might as well be on autopilot.
First he created Six Feet Under, the HBO series about a family that runs a funeral home and is steeped in death. Now he's created an HBO series about the undead: True Blood, about vampires who've emerged from the shadows.
The surge in Iraq is one of the issues that divides the presidential candidates, but Bob Woodward's new book, The War Within, reveals that it also divided the Bush administration and the military.
Lost creator J.J. Abrams discusses his latest television show, Fringe. The show, which Abrams describes as having a "a slight 'Twilight Zone' vibe," focuses on the unnatural occurrences in the world of a brilliant but mentally-unstable research scientist.
Thomas Friedman is a man bent on revolution. In his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist writes about the need for a green revolution — and calls upon Americans to lead the charge.
The new HBO series centers on a vampire clan living in a small Louisiana town. It's by Alan Ball, creator of the hit series Six Feet Under, and based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. Anna Paquin stars.
The New York Times reporter David Kirkpatrick joins us from the Republican Convention in Minneapolis. Kirkpatrick is the author of a series of articles profiling John McCain. He covered the conservative Christian movement during the 2004 election.
In One Party Country, journalists Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten explain what they call "The Republican plan for dominance in the 21st century." The Republicans, they argue, are "firmly in the lead when it comes to the science and strategy of attaining power — and keeping it."
Eight years ago, John McCain and George Bush faced off in a bitter battle for the Republican slot on the 2000 presidential ballot. Now, the two former rivals cross paths again, this time sharing what journalist Peter Baker describes as an unlikely and uneasy "mutual dependence."
Journalist Steve Coll discusses "The General's Dilemma," his profile of General David Petraeus, which appears in the Sept. 8, 2008 issue The New Yorker.
Political scientist and author runs the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics at UCLA; he talks to Terry Gross about how Barack Obama's campaign is addressing issues touching on race and ethnicity.
When Sen. Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the Democratic presidential primary in June, she thanked her supporters for making "18 million cracks" in the glass ceiling. Political columnist Katha Pollitt discusses the historical significance of Clinton's presidential bid.
Journalist Joshua Green discusses the activities at the Democratic National Convention. Green is a senior editor at The Atlantic. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire and Rolling Stone.
In his latest movie, Traitor, Don Cheadle plays a CIA operative who goes undercover to work with a terrorist group — but then becomes a suspected terrorist himself.
