For many years, U.S. immigration favored immigrants from northern Europe. NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten explains how a 1965 law changed things — and led to the current debate about border security.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews two new interpretations of Monk's complete works: Monk's Dreams, by pianist Frank Kimbrough, and Work, by guitarist Miles Okazaki.
John C. Reilly portrays Oliver Hardy in the new film 'Stan and Ollie' about the iconic comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He wore a fat suit and had to recreate some of their classic comedy routines.
John Adams' opera, which premiered in 2005, centers on the first atomic bomb test at Los Alamos, N.M. Now, a new album features a recording of Doctor Atomic conducted by the composer himself.
Critic David Bianculli offers an appreciation of the influential HBO drama. Plus, we listen back to archival interviews with series creator David Chase and Edie Falco, who played Carmela Soprano.
Mahershala Ali is a small-town cop grappling with the disappearance of two high-school students — while also dealing with his own isolation — in the new season of the HBO series.
For about 48 hours in December, Kevin Hart was slated to host the 2019 Academy Awards. Then Hart was called out for homophobic jokes and tweets he made in 2010, and the Academy asked him to apologize.
Hart insisted that he already had apologized. Finally, after some back and forth, Hart stepped down from hosting, saying he didn't want to be a distraction.
There are countless presidential scandals in U.S. history, but very few of them have resulted in resignation or impeachment — which is precisely why MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was drawn to the story of Spiro Agnew, Richard Nixon's first vice president, who resigned in 1973.
Maddow notes there are many misconceptions concerning the former vice president — including the notion that his "big sin" centered on taxes.
Ben Stiller loves a good escape story. So when he heard about Richard Matt and David Sweat, two convicted murderers who used tools provided by a prison employee to break out of a New York state maximum security prison in June 2015, he was intrigued.
My taste doesn't naturally gravitate toward feminist dystopian fiction, but such stories are ubiquitous these days. Their influence seeps far beyond the classic novel and Hulu series of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, as well as the literary fiction it's inspired like Naomi Alderman's The Power and Leni Zumas' Red Clocks.
Almost 10 years ago, journalist Hillary Frank was pregnant and planning to give birth without medication or surgery — but things didn't go according to her plan.
Oz, who died Dec. 28, co-founded Peace Now, a group that calls for negotiations with Palestinians and the creation of a Palestinian state. He spoke to Fresh Air in 1988, 1991 and 2004
Nicole Kidman gives an intense performance as a drunken, pointedly unlikable police officer in Karyn Kusama's new film. Critic John Powers says Destroyer is a flawed, but fascinating, noir thriller.
Seven-year-old Jakelin Caal died in U.S. custody in December. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says her death might have been prevented had border agents spoken the Mayan language Q'eqchi'.
Director Adam McKay aims to bring the powerful former vice president into the foreground in his new film, Vice, a dark comedy starring Christian Bale. The movie combines the work of investigative journalists with some speculation and comedy.
The legendary frontman plays all the characters in a new recording of Igor Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Critic Lloyd Schwartz calls it a seriously enjoyable addition to the Stravinsky catalogue.
Former federal public defender Alexandra Natapoff says 13 million misdemeanors are filed each year in the U.S., trapping the innocent, punishing the poor and making society more unequal.
