Biographer Peter Guralnick's new book is Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. Guralnick follows the life of rhythm and blues legend Sam Cooke from his roots in gospel music through his legendary career as a singer and songwriter whose hits include "You Send Me," "Only Sixteen" and many others.
Singer and pianist Shirley Horn died last week on October 21st at the age of 71. In 1992, Horn took part in a concert and interview with Fresh Air. Playing with her was her long time drummer Steve Williams and bassist Charles Ables (who died in 2002).
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz is also a horror movie fan. He reviews a new DVD collection of the horror films of producer Val Lewton. The films include The Leopard Man, Curse of the Cat People, and I Walked with a Zombie, along with six other films.
A need for foreign workers in Iraq -- and the flood of American dollars into the country -- have created a labor network that critics call misleading, illegal and even dangerous. Chicago Tribune correspondent Cam Simpson retraced the fatal journey of 12 men from Nepal.
As a former counterterrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations, Richard A. Clarke often had to imagine worst-case scenarios. His first novel — a thriller — does just that: set five years in the future, it envisions the United States on the verge of another war in the Middle East.
From 1950 to 1956, the team of Martin and Lewis were America's favorite entertainers. A new memoir from Jerry Lewis details how their 10-year partnership was destroyed. Dean and Me: A Love Story details life behind the scenes of 16 films and numerous TV and club shows.
Peter Manseau's mother is a former nun; his father is a priest who remains under suspension. Manseau tells of their marriage — and his upbringing — in a new memoir, Vows.
A new collection of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers DVDs from Warner Home Video is out, called the Astaire and Rogers Collection, Vol. 1. It includes "Top Hat" and "Swing Time."
Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book is Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream. In it, Ehrenreich details white-collar unemployment and the industry that sells unemployed resume assistance, job fairs, and networking events.
Bill Manseau 's wife, Mary, left the convent in the late 1960s. But Bill Manseau believed then, as he does today, that he was called to be a married priest -- and his actions might help to end the requirement of celibacy. The church felt otherwise.
Critic at large John Powers considers the films of Alfred Hitchcock as a new DVD survey of his work is coming out: Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection.
Editor and writer Walter Kirn's latest novel, Mission to America, is about a fictional quasi-religious group, the Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles, seeking new converts to help them survive. The topic is one Kirn has experience with: When he was 12, Kirn's family became Mormons.
Two writers describe how their lives have been shaped: Kim Ponders was an Air Force pilot during the first Gulf War; and Nicole Lea Helget grew up on a turbulent Minnesota farm in the 1980s.
Actor, producer, writer, director George Clooney directed and co-wrote the new film Good Night, and Good Luck, about the showdown between legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy that took place in 1954.
Best-selling author Zadie Smith's new book, On Beauty, follows the lives of two mixed-race families in a fictional New England college town. Smith's previous work includes the novel White Teeth.
