Set in various fantastic and creepy landscapes, Dan Chaon's latest book, Await Your Reply, weaves together three separate narratives in what reviewer Maureen Corrigan calls a "spinning nebula of a novel."
Nicole Mitchell's Renegades matches exploratory playing with deep grooves and a tight ensemble blend. The new group is Black Earth Strings, consisting of flute, three strings and percussionist Shirazette Tinnin.
Journalist David E. Hoffman revisits the high stakes maneuverings of the Cold War arms race and details the inner-workings of the Soviet nuclear program in his new book.
Twenty-two years after its debut on ABC, the iconic TV drama about yuppie family life is back — in DVD form. Critic David Bianculli reviews the first season of thirtysomething, and reflects on what made the show both infuriating and fascinating.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist opens up about his experiences as a father to four children and husband to writer Ayelet Waldman in his new book of personal essays, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son.
It takes one to know one: Linguist Geoff Nunberg discusses the apolitical, prosaic prowess of the late New York Times conservative wordsmith, William Safire.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Dennis Diken's new album Late Music. Diken, the drummer for the Smithereens, has recorded this project with a group called Bell Sound.
Max Cleland served in Vietnam — where he lost both legs and his right arm — before being elected to the U.S. Senate. His new memoir is Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove.
When Cash was 18, her father (you know him as Johnny) presented her with a gift: a list of 100 essential country songs to help the budding singer-songwriter connect with and better understand the music that came before her. After holding on to it for the past few decades, Roseanne Cash decided to turn that gift into The List, her new album.
A Serious Man is the Coen Brothers latest (and most specifically Jewish) take on the question of cosmic injustice. Larry Gopnik, a staid Mid-western physics professor, watches helplessly as his life begins to crumble. Critic David Edelstein says the movie unfolds like a strange, sad joke that makes you wonder whether the punchline "will make you laugh or want to kill yourself."
The Emmy-darling AMC TV series devotes an almost fetishistic attention to style. But is there any substance beyond the surfaces? Critic-at-large John Powers goes looking — and comes back with one especially well-rounded answer.
Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid discusses the challenges facing President Obama in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His most recent book is Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
Your kids are perfect — just don't tell them that. NurtureShock, the new book by Po Bronson, explores how Americans have misunderstood the role of praise in parenting and what we can do to save our kids from ourselves.
Author and screenwriter Nick Hornby joins Fresh Air host Terry Gross to discuss his new novel, Juliet, Naked, and his screenplay for the new movie An Education.
Novelist and playwright Dan Fante writes about alcoholism, drug addiction and failed attempts at literary success — all of which he has experienced himself. He discusses the process of reliving his past on paper.
Unitarian minister Forrest Church believed that the knowledge that we must die makes us question what life means. Church, who died Sept. 24, 2009 after a long battle with cancer of the esophagus, was the author of Love and Death: My Journey through the Valley of the Shadow.
The New York Times columnist and political spitfire, who died Sept. 27 of pancreatic cancer, left behind an indelible legacy in speechwriting and political reporting. We remember Safire with a conversation from the Fresh Air archives.
During the eight years that Bill Clinton was president of the United States, he secretly recorded interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch.
