Rock historian Ed Ward profiles the early years of the Franklin sisters. Aretha Franklin is a renowned soul legend, but her two sisters, Carolyn and Erma, were also singers.
Philanthropist and investor George Soros is the chairman of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute. His new book is The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of The War on Terror. Soros, whose worth has been estimated at over $7 billion, has directed his philanthropic efforts toward defeating George W. Bush in 2004, overthrowing communism in Eastern Europe, helping black students attend university in apartheid South Africa and repealing drug prohibition laws internationally.
The director of the conservative Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal at the Hudson Institute talks about his work. The Hudson Institute examines "the role of philanthropy in encouraging or discouraging civil society in America and around the world," Schambra says.
Our book critic reviews The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde. The novel's plot centers around the death of an abortion clinic doctor and the possible murder suspects involved.
Thom Yorke is the lead singer and songwriter of the band Radiohead. Along with their longtime producer Nigel Godrich, Radiohead has released six critically acclaimed records and explored the boundaries between rock and electronic music. Yorke's new solo CD, The Eraser, is his first release without the band.
Our rock critic reviews albums by Tom Verlaine of the '70s New York punk band Television: the instrumental album Around, and Songs and Other Things, which includes his compositions and vocals.
Edmund White has been writing about gay culture in fiction and nonfiction since the 1970s. He has a new autobiography, My Lives. White is director of the creative writing program at Princeton University.
Richard Linklater's new film, A Scanner Darkly, is based on the book by Philip K. Dick -- a haunting tale of drug addiction, paranoia and surveillance set in the America of the near future. Live-action footage is overlaid with an animation technique first used in Linklater's 2001 film Waking Life.
Coach Bill Resler and former player Devon Crosby Helms are at the heart of the basketball documentary The Heart of the Game. The film follows the Roosevelt High School Roughriders, a Seattle-area girls' team, for six seasons.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has an appreciation of mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died Monday at her home in Santa Fe at the age of 52 after a long illness.
We rebroadcast an interview with late mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt. She had been called the "reigning Handel diva of our day." She appeared in Peter Sellars' productions of Handel and Mozart. This interview originally aired on April 8, 1996.
Inspired by a ride at Disneyworld, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a surprise blockbuster in 2003, grossing close to half a billion dollars and winning an Oscar nomination for Johnny Depp -- a rare honor for a comic lead performance. Virtually the same cast and crew returns for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
In his new book, Talking Right, linguist Geoff Nunberg examines the parlance of the American political right. Conservatives, Nunberg notes, have been remarkably effective at creating a language through which to convey their agenda.
Army chaplain and captain Ran Dolinger has 20 years of experience in the army, ministering to soldiers in the field, and training other chaplains. He was in Iraq from July 2003 to February 2004, and returns there September. He currently serves at the Chief of Chaplains Office as media liaison officer.
Clarinetist Ben Goldberg is a key figure in the Bay Area improvisational scene, where he became known in the early 1990s as a member of the New Klezmer Trio.
Reporter Jane Mayer's recent article in The New Yorker examines the role of David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and longtime legal adviser. Mayer says current and former Bush administration officials credit him with helping form the administration's legal strategy in the war on terrorism.
