Society & Culture

Film critic John Powers reviews L.I.E., an independent film about a troubled teenage boy and the older man who steps into his life. L.I.E. stands for Long Island Expressway, where the boy's mother died in an auto crash.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the history of the term "terrorism."

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the practice of giving names to military operations, like the misconceived Operation Infinite Justice that was pulled from use.

Imam Sayed Hassan Qazwini is the religious leader of the Islamic Center of America in Detroit, the biggest such center in the United States. It includes a Mosque in which he preaches.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the words we use to denote a down-turn in the economy.

Cartoonist Daniel Clowes. Drawn in 1950s pop culture style, his comics are darkly humorous satires of middle class America. His graphic novel Ghost World (first published in 1993) is the basis of the new film of the same name. His first comic book series was Lloyd Llewellyn, followed by Eightball (both published by Fantagraphics Books). Clowes was the first cartoonist to contribute a comic story to Esquire annual fiction issue.

Writer and radio personality Garrison Keillor. He is the host and writer of A Prairie Home Companion, broadcast from Minnesota and heard weekly on public radio stations nationwide. Keillor has just published two new books. One is a semi-autobiographical novel, called Lake Wobegon Summer 1956. (Viking) The other is in collaboration with photographer Richard Olsenius: In Search of Lake Wobegon (Viking Studio). It an effort to capture in words and pictures the people and places that inspired the fictional town of Lake Wobegon.

South African journalists Mondli Makhanya talk about race and racism in their country in light of the upcoming U.N. conference on World Racism, which will be held in South Africa. Barrell is editor of Johannesburg Daily Mail & Guardian. Until his appointment as editor last year he was political editor of the M&G. Mondli Makhanya is the Political Editor of the Sunday Times.

Film critic Henry Sheehan reviews Ghost World.

Language commentator Geoff Nunberg on solutions.

Historian and civil rights activist Roger Wilkins has written a new book Jefferson Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism (Beacon Press). Wilkins considers our founding fathers and their conflicting attitudes toward race and how it affects his own sense of patriotism. Wilkins is a professor of history at George Mason University, a Pulitzer-prize winner, and former Assistant Attorney General under President Johnson.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews McSorleys Wonderful Saloon by Joseph Mitchell.

British actress Charlotte Rampling. Shes known for her great beauty. She was a model before beginning her film career in the sixties with hits such as Georgy Girl and The Damned. She may be best known for The Night Porter, a 1974 classic about a concentration camp survivor reunited with the Nazi guard who tortured her. Ramplings new film is the French Under The Sand, about a woman whose husband mysteriously disappears during a seaside vacation.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg wonders if the English language could do with fewer adverbs.

Film critic Henry Sheehan reviews Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews John Henry Days, the new book by Colson Whitehead.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg responds to listeners comments about his anachronism piece a few weeks ago and the popular use of the word –gay— referring to homosexuals.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Dying Animal by Philip Roth.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about the word "literally".

Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about linguistic anachronysms.