Journalism

A 2009 law gives the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products for the first time. New York Times reporter Duff Wilson, who covers the tobacco industry, explains what the ruling means -- and what impact it could have on the industry.

New York Times foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins has just returned from Afghanistan. He discusses what he's seen since the recent troop surge and explains the challenges the U.S. faces in trying to drive the Taliban out of the country.

The Iranian-American journalist was imprisoned in Iran, interrogated, tried and eventually released. But the controversy continues. Saver says she confessed to her crimes in order to get out of jail but asserts she did nothing wrong. Her new book Between Two Worlds is an account of her time in captivity.

Michael Lewis' new book The Big Short chronicles the 2008 financial collapse through the investors who realized what was happening to the U.S. economy while it was happening -- and then made a fortune by betting against the markets.

Since the U.S. invasion, 4 million Iraqis have had to leave their homes. An additional 2 million have left the country entirely, and many are still outside its borders. NPR's Deborah Amos tells the story of these displaced Iraqi citizen in her new book, Eclipse of the Sunnis.

When Confidential magazine launched in 1952, it feasted on the type of juicy gossip that could launch -- or ruin -- a career. Journalist Henry Scott details the rise and fall of the gossip rag in his book, Shocking True Story -- and explains how Hollywood reacted.

Using White House visitor logs, writer Paul Blumenthal dug into negotiations that took place among pharmaceutical lobbying firms, the White House and Congress while the health care bill was being drafted. Blumenthal describes how he used public records to determine who was meeting with whom — and how various interest groups have influenced the debate.

Attorney General Eric Holder has come under fire, mostly from the Republican side of the aisle, for the decision to try Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court — and for the handling of "underwear bomber" Umar Abdulmutallab after his arrest. New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer looks at growing partisan differences about national security.

In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died after a long battle with cervical cancer. Doctors cultured her cells without permission from her family. The story of those cells — known as HeLa cells, in Lacks' honor — and of the medical advances that came from them, is told in Rebecca Skloot's book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg has reported that human excrement and dangerous chemicals are making their way into our waterways and then into our drinking water. Duhigg returns to Fresh Air to talk the problems with our nation's sewer system.