The Kite Runner, the debut novel by Afghani-born physician and author Khaled Hosseini, has been on best-seller and book club lists for nearly a year. Writer Isabel Allende says the book — about a young man who returns to Afghanistan after a long absence — is "one of those unforgettable stories that stays with you for years."
Rock historian Ed Ward looks at the career of producer and arranger Jack Nitzsche. He worked with a wide variety of artists: Phil Spector, Bobby Darin, Doris Day, Little Stevie Wonder, Neil Young and Marianne Faithful. The new CD Hearing Is Believing collects his work.
The anti-Vietnam War documentary Winter Soldier is having its first major theatrical release -- 34 years after it was made. It focuses on a three-day gathering in 1971 when Vietnam veterans, including former Marine pilot Rusty Sachs, told of the atrocities they had participated in or witnessed during the war.
Fresh Air broadcasts the second part of its interview with singer-songwriter Paul Anka. He's new album is called Rock Swings. It's a collection of covers from the 1980s and '90s, re-set to a swing beat.
Muzammil Siddiqi is chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, an association of Islamic legal scholars that interprets Muslim religious law. On July 28, the group issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, condemning all acts of terrorism and religious extremism as fundamentally un-Islamic.
Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, has a new book, New Rules: Polite Musings of a Timid Observer. It's a compilation of satiric segments from the show, in which he takes aim at everything from cell phones and fast food to politics.
ABC reporter and anchor Peter Jennings died Sunday at age 67 after a four-month battle with lung cancer. The intrepid journalist had helmed ABC's World News Tonight since 1983. (This interview originally aired Nov. 17, 1998.)
Increasingly catchy terminology is used to package government missions and policies. Consider "war on terror" and "no child left behind," for instance. Linguist Geoff Nunberg offers his thoughts on the subject.
Bill Murray and his deadpan delivery star in a Jim Jarmusch film about an aging Don Juan who learns a 19-year-old son he has never met is looking for him. A strong cast offers support.
The film Hustle & Flow follows the story of a Memphis pimp who dreams of becoming a rapper. Relative newcomer Craig Brewer wrote and directed the film, which won the 2005 Audience Award at Sundance. Brewer and star Terrence Howard discuss the gritty movie.
Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, the three-woman band Sleater-Kinney is known for its is loud, fast, aggressive grrrl rock. Lead singer and guitarist Corin Tucker and guitarist Carrie Brownstein talk about their music and the band's latest release The Woods
Questions remain about who in the Bush administration outed CIA operative Valerie Plame. Adam Liptak of The New York Times and Anne Marie Squeo of The Wall Street Journal discuss the case and the subsequent jailing of the Times' Judith Miller for refusing to reveal her sources.
Television critic David Bianculli reviews the final episode of NYPD Blue and previews Deadwood the HBO Western which begins a second season this weekend. Both shows were created by David Milch.
Pizza, one of the world's most popular foods, comes in many styles — from New York to Chicago to artichokes and free-range chicken. Food writer Ed Levine's new book, Pizza, a Slice of Heaven, gathers fact and opinion on an American staple.
Music critic Milo Miles tells us about Joe Strummer's pre-Clash band, The 101'ers. Strummer went on to fame as the lead singer of the seminal punk band The Clash. Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited is the reissued 101'ers album in stores now.
Cultural historian Christopher Frayling's new book Once Upon A Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone is a large-format, beautifully illustrated book that chronicles the history of the spaghetti western through researched text and interviews with Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and Eli Wallach.
March of the Penguins is a stunning and endearing documentary about a year in the life of an Emperor penguin flock in Antarctica. Morgan Freeman narrates.
