Society & Culture

Brazilian culture is often portrayed as either joyful folk tradition or brutal gang violence. But Kleber Mendonca Filho's Neighboring Sounds penetrates into the daily lives of suburban Brazilians — and critic John Powers says it may be the best Brazilian film since the '70s.

The author's new memoir, Winter Journal, is a history of his body — scars, panic attacks and near-death experiences. He tells Fresh Air how he got a reputation as a dirty fighter, why he doesn't drive and how hard it was to see his mother's dead body.

The Republican vice presidential pick wants to take another look at programs like Medicare and Social Security. Fresh Air's resident linguist parses the word "entitlement" in its political and nonpolitical contexts.

The stand-up comedian says it's hard to pull off jokes about being rich, but "just because you're doing well in life doesn't mean you can't complain, too." Rock's latest project is a film called 2 Days in New York, in which he plays half of an interracial, multinational couple hosting relatives from France.

Keegan spent his life studying war, but he never fought in one and described himself as more or less a pacifist. The British military historian, who died last week at age 78, chronicled the history of warfare from Alexander the Great to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

We listen back to excerpts of interviews with the acerbic writer, who died Tuesday at 86. Vidal authored the historical novels Burr and Lincoln, wrote plays and provocative essays, ran for office twice — and lost — and frequently appeared on TV talk shows.

Moran believes that most women who don't want to be called feminists don't understand what feminism is. Her new book How to Be a Woman is a funny take on housework, high heels, body fat, abortion, marriage and, of course, Brazilian waxes.

Supermodels open up about aging in a youth-obsessed industry in the HBO documentary About Face: The Supermodels Then and Now. "I really insisted that I not be retouched in Playboy," says Carol Alt. "...I'm 49 years old, and that was the point ... I let every bump and flaw show."

She's never been heard on the show, but producer Melody Kramer has created a singular voice for Fresh Air online and in social media. Today we send her off, affectionately, to medical school and the next phase of her career.

Middleborough, Mass., recently imposed a $20 fine for swearing in public. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says profanity makes hypocrites of us all.

Reporter David Kirkpatrick, the Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times, reflects on his time reporting on the Arab Spring and discusses what the election of President Mohammed Morsi means for Egypt, the United States and Israel.

In her essays, British columnist Caitlin Moran picks up funny feminism where Nora Ephron left off. She takes a fresh approach to hit topics from the past 40 years or so years of feminist writing: sexuality, marriage, division of housework, female body fat, abortion and sexism in the workplace.

The Vatican recently announced that it would completely make over the Leadership Conference of Women Religious because of its "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith." Sister Pat Farrell, who heads the organization, says many of the charges are unsubstantiated.

David Edelstein says the extended cut of Kenneth Lonergan's second film is "as close to a masterpiece as any American film in a decade." Never widely screened, the film, starring Anna Paquin, is out now on DVD. (Recommended)

Greg Berlanoti's new series on the USA Network stars Sigourney Weaver as the secretary of state and former first lady. Critic John Powers says he suspects that "even a Martian" would realize Weaver's character is based on Hillary Clinton -- and that's not a bad thing.

Kenneth Lonergan's critically acclaimed film Margaret stars Anna Paquin as Lisa, a Manhattan teenager who tries to make sense of a bus accident she may have caused -- on that resulted in a woman's death.

In his new memoir, David McGlynn describes how his teenage years were disrupted by violence. McAllen was a swimmer who turned to evangelical Christianity in college. A Door in the Ocean is a compelling coming-of-age story marked by random tragedy and biblical tracts, church coffee and chlorine.

AIDS is the primary killer of African-Americans ages 19 to 44, and the mortality rate is 10 times higher for black Americans than for whites. A new Frontline documentary explores why.

In Karen Thompson Walker's first book, climate change makes the Earth's rotation go more and more sluggish, but this melancholy page-turner is more than just a disaster plot.