James Comer has written a new book about his mother, Maggie. She grew up in a poor black family, and later ran away from her abusive father. She led a strict household, and worked hard to ensure that her children received a good education. Comer now runs an educational program which aims to create a collaborative culture among teachers, parents, and mental health workers.
Language commentator Geoff Nunberg considers how electronic communication like telephone conversations and radio broadcasts have changed the ways we introduce ourselves.
Book critic John Leonard reviews Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Ezra Pound, called A Serious Character. Leonard says the book is filled with inessential material, and doesn't do enough to address Pound's literary, political, and personal shortcomings.
Eddie Jones, who later performed as Guitar Slim, was an early pioneer of rock and blues guitar. He died in 1959. Rock historian Ed Ward says that, had Slim lived, he could have outshone Jimi Hendrix.
Organized crime groups in China, called triads, have become some of the biggest forces in the international heroin trade. Writer Gerald Posner links their rise to the power vacuum left by the Sicilian mafia, as well as the policing policies of Chinatowns throughout the U.S. Posner's book about the subject is called Warlords of Crime.
Pinsky says he's suspicious of literary criticism, even though he often writes it himself. His new book, Poetry and the World, looks back on his past, including growing up in New Jersey.
Literature professor and writer Carolyn Heilbrun writes about women's issues under her own name, and detective novels under the pseudonym Amanda Cross. She believes that the path forward for feminism is androgyny and a greater blurring of gender roles and identities.
Journalist Taylor Branch says most histories of the African American civil rights movement written by white people are missing heart and context. He seeks to avoid this pitfall in his new book, Parting the Waters. Branch joins Fresh Air to discuss the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. in black churches, and how John F. Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover attempted to control him for their own ends.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new ABC special, Roots: The Gift, which revisits protagonist Kunta Kinte. He says it's a true successor to the original miniseries, and exceeds it in quality.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the movie star had a range of about six notes, but he had personality and a swinging house band. Yet Astaire deserves praise for making famous several songs which later became standards.
Walt Frazier was a superstar NBA player for the New York Knicks in the 1960s and '70s. During that time, he was known for his ostentatious fashion and extravagant lifestyle. Now older, he's returned to the world of basketball as a sports commentator. His new memoir is called Walt Frazier.
Critic Ken Tucker revisits the classic Jack Nicholson film, now on home video. He says the movie is idiosyncratic, but fizzles out by the end, after Nicholson's character has killed off so many of his emotions.
Sportswriter John Feinstein says there's nothing more exciting than watching a college basketball game from the stands. His new book, A Season Inside, looks at the failures and success of young athletes, and argues that coaches are the real heroes of the game.
Paleontologist Jack Horner discovered some of the most significant fossil records of dinosaurs, which suggest that the animals cared for their young and traveled in herds.
Former Monkees member Michael Nesmith helped pioneer the music video and created the blueprint for MTV. He now runs the home video production company, Pacific Arts Video, which he financed with an inheritance from his mother, who invented Liquid Paper.
The new film, a thriller about drug smuggling, was written by Robert Towne, who is considered by many to be the best screenwriter in Hollywood. Film critic Stephen Schiff says the movie is a sensual feast.
Rock critic Ken Tucker says that the band's new album lives up to its name: 'Til Tuesday is now no longer a band, but a vehicle for singer and songwriter Aimee Man. Tucker says the heartbreak-riddled record has an elegantly formal structure.
Hamilton says he'll always be pigeonholed as a New Yorker cartoonist; his work regularly appears in that magazine. His new novel, The Lap of Luxury, is about marrying into a rich family.
Lloyd Schwartz says that Spanish cellist's renditions of Bach are unrivaled. He reviews Casals' complete performances the composer's cello suite, as well as a more recent recording of Beethoven's trios.
