Society & Culture

Cinematographer and film director Garrett Brown has created the "Philadelphia: Getting to Know Us" advertising campaigns. He returns to Fresh Air to discuss why he wanted to show both the "grimy outskirts" and "scrubbed-up insides" of his home city.

The Nobel Prize-winning writer's formative experiences were informed by war in Eastern Europe, an itinerant childhood, and American novels and films. He has lived in the United States since 1960.

Independent filmmaker Spike Lee's first feature, She's Gotta Have It, has garnered critical adulation and popular success. He joins Fresh Air to discuss his experiences as a black director, having an all-black cast, and making a movie that deals frankly with women's sexual desires.

John Phillips, who led The Mamas and the Papas, has a new autobiography, which details the tensions, drug use, and affairs that ultimately led to the band's demise.

Broadcast journalist Robert MacNeil is producing a new television series called The Story of English, which examines how the language is changing. His experience working in three Anglophone countries--Canada, England, and the United States--has given him unique insights into the subject. He joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross to talk about his experiences as a journalist in conflict zones, as well as his start in television broadcasting.

Novelist Rita Mae Brown joins Fresh Air to discuss her participation in the 1960s and 1970s in civil rights, women's, and gay and lesbian movements.

Writer Marita Golden's first novel, A Woman's Place, traces the divergent paths of three African American women as they negotiate their relationships, faith, and careers.

Folklorist Jan Harold Burnvand has written several books about the origins, structure and dissemination of urban legends.

Gail Lumet Buckley is the daughter of groundbreaking African American actress Lena Horne. Buckley's new book, The Hornes, traces her family's history from the Civil War to contemporary New York, untangling the unique experiences of the black bourgeoisie in the US.

While working as a preacher at a mortuary, Solomon Burke was recruited by Atlantic Records to make a country and western album. The record was a hit, but many listeners didn't know Burke is black. He joins Fresh Air to share stories of how he later made a name in soul music.

Phyllis Diller became a comedian at the age 37; she and her husband, who had five children together, believed it would be the best way for her to support the family financially. She is known for her frazzled onstage persona, jokes about her imagined husband Fang, and her many plastic surgeries.

Poet and playwright Leroi Jones changed his name to Amiri Baraka to affirm his African roots. While exploring his black identity, he participated in a variety of different arts and political movements. Though his views continue to evolve, his past experiences continue to inform his writing today.

Writer Paul Rudnick's new novel lampoons Manhattan's exclusive, fashion-obsessed nightclub scene --with which Rudnick has first-hand experience.

Evangelical minister Jerry Falwell has cultivated a network of political, educational, and media ventures to promote his conservative beliefs in culture and politics. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about how he came to be a Christian, and how he hopes to guide others to the faith.

Writer Gail Sheehy is best-known for her book "Passages: Predictable Crises of Adulthood." While in Thailand researching Cambodian children in refugee camps, Sheehy met a 12-year-old girl whom she later adopted. Her book "Spirit of Survival" alternates between Sheehy and her daughter Mohm's perspectives on the events.

Novelist Rita Mae Brown is known for her lesbian and "Southern" fiction. She joins the show to discuss her family and growing up in the South. Brown's latest novel is "High Hearts."

Nat Hentoff writes about jazz and civil liberties, but describes his profession as "being a troublemaker." Hentoff began collecting jazz records and hanging out in jazz clubs as a young adult, and later hosted a jazz radio show and edited a magazine before co-founding the Jazz Review, a journal of criticism. Hentoff currently writes a column for the Village Voice and his subjects are often the First Amendment or civil liberties, and he is a staunch defender of free speech. His latest book, "Boston Boy," is a memoir about growing up in Chicago and Boston.

Poet, memoirist, and activist Maya Angelou discusses her life, career, and time spent living in Ghana.

Vito Russo, author of The Celluloid Closet analyzes how gays have been portrayed in films.