Society & Culture

Stephanie Land's new memoir, Class, picks up where her 2019 memoir, Maid, left off. Maid, which inspired a 10-part Netflix series, chronicled Land's life as a young single mother living below the poverty line, struggling with housing insecurity and an abusive relationship, and cleaning houses to support herself and her daughter.

In Class, Land is in her mid-30s at the University of Montana, desperately trying to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer, while juggling classes, working to pay for childcare and rent, and experiencing the loneliness of being a single mother.

Actor Courtney B. Vance and psychologist Dr. Robin Smith co-authored the book "The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain And Reclaiming Their Power."

Perry, who died in Oct. 28, played the sarcastic but lovable Chandler Bing on Friends. He spoke to Terry Gross in 2007. Plus, we listen back to our 2003 interview with Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe.

Historian Tanisha Ford shares the untold story of Mollie Moon, known as one of the most influential women of the civil rights era in her new book "Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind The Civil Rights Movement".

David Grann's 2017 book chronicled how members of the Osage Indian Nation were murdered in the 1920s by white people who wanted to take control of their land. Originally broadcast April 17, 2017.

Lee is testing her comedic chops on The Morning Show, where she plays the first female president of UBA News. In the film Past Lives, she takes a more serious turn as Nora, a playwright living in New York, caught between her American husband and her childhood sweetheart from growing up in Korea.

In the new memoir, Worthy, Pinkett Smith writes about her marriage, her career in Hollywood, her upbringing in Baltimore and her friendship with the late rapper Tupac Shakur. She also chronicles her struggle with depression and her efforts to better understand and accept herself.

Maryam Keshavarz's new film is called The Persian Version. It’s a fiction film, inspired by Keshavarz’s life and her mother’s. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1969. Keshavarz grew up in New Jersey. Like the character in the film, Keshavarz identifies as bisexual, which her parents considered taboo and unacceptable. About half of the Persian Version is the story of Layla’s mother, growing up in an Iranian country village, and being forced to marry her husband at age 13.

Russell talks and sings about the physical and sexual abuse she endured from her racist adoptive father — and about how she learned she was worthy of being loved.

In the new memoir, Thicker than Water, Washington recounts her life as an only child in the Bronx, her acting career and activism, and her journey of self-discovery after learning the truth of her heritage. Growing up, she frequently sensed an "emotional distance" between her parents and herself.

Hardison, who started modeling in the late '60s, describes herself the first "Black, Black" model. She went on to own her own modeling agency. A new documentary tells her story.

Sterlin Harjo says society has a tendency to be "very precious with Native people." The third and final season of the irreverent series dropped recently. Originally broadcast Sept. 19, 2022.

R. Eric Thomas Thomas' new book, Congratulations, the Best Is Over!, is about middle age, and what it feels like to go back to the place where you were born — especially when your relationship with that place is complicated.

Shane McCrae, poet and author of the new memoir "Pulling The Chariot Of The Sun: A Memoir Of A Kidnapping."

Dubus III talks about the injuries he faced when he was a carpenter, and how his relationship changed with his father after the senior Dubus was struck by a car and never walked again.

Richard E. Grant is an award-winning actor and author of "A Pocketful Of Happiness."

Comedian Leanne Morgan. Her self-produced comedy special "I'm Every Woman" is now on Netflix.

In 2018, Delta airlines unveiled new uniforms made of a synthetic-blend fabric. Soon after, flight attendants began to get sick. Alden Wicker explains how toxic chemicals get in clothes in To Dye For.

"My father was not a good person, but he was a great character," Sedaris says. The humorist reflected on his late father in the memoir Happy-Go-Lucky. Originally broadcast May 31, 2022.

The Negro League, which was founded in 1920, featured a scrappier, hit-and-run, base-stealing style of play. Years later, as the first Black player to play in MLB in the modern era, Jackie Robinson would bring the same energy to a wider audience.