archive
Author Interviews
'Dead Sea Scrolls' Live On In Debate And Discovery
February 13, 2013 In a new book, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography, religious scholar and author John J. Collins tells the history of the scrolls and the controversies they have prompted, and explores the questions they ask and answer about Judeo-Christian history.
Music Reviews
Rudresh Mahanthappa: Bicultural Jazz, Ever Shifting
February 13, 2013 The saxophonist and his quartet cross-pollinate Indian classical music and vintage Captain Beefheart to create complicated rhythms and solos reminiscent of jazz-rock fusion.
Book Reviews
A Soured Student-Teacher Friendship Threatens 'Everything'
February 12, 2013 In a new memoir, James Lasdun describes how a former-student-turned-friend stalked and slandered him online. Give Me Everything You Have is a meditation on what it means to control your reputation on the Internet — and the book is Lasdun's attempt to fight back.
National Security
The Sticky Questions Surrounding Drones And Kill Lists
February 12, 2013 Scott Shane, a national security correspondent for The New York Times, speaks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the drone-related stories he has helped break, including the revelation that President Obama personally approves targeted strikes against suspected terrorists.
Author Interviews
An 'Autopsy' Of Detroit Finds Resilience In A Struggling City
February 11, 2013 To some, Detroit may be a symbol of urban decay; but to journalist Charlie LeDuff, it's home. In Detroit: An American Autopsy, he says the city's heart beats on. "We're still here trying to reconstruct the great thing we once had," he tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies.
Fresh Air Weekend
Fresh Air Weekend: Bradley Cooper, Michael Apted
February 9, 2013 Bradley Cooper talks about watching movies with his father as a kid in Philadelphia and being up against Daniel Day Lewis for an Oscar. Every seven years since 1964, Michael Apted has caught us up on the lives of 14 everyday people in his acclaimed 7 Up series.
Movie Reviews
'Caesar' Comes Alive In An Italian Prison
February 8, 2013 In Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's new film, Caesar Must Die, a group of prisoners put on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It's barely an hour and a quarter, and it's physically small-scale, but it's so compressed it wears you out — in a good way.
Movie Interviews
Tyler Perry Transforms: From Madea To Family Man
February 8, 2013 Best known for being the man behind Madea, Perry recently starred in the action thriller Alex Cross which is now out on DVD. We listen back to an October interview, in which he told Fresh Air's Terry Gross that his Madea character is a cross between his mom, his aunt and Eddie Murphy.
Movie Interviews
Bradley Cooper Finds 'Silver Linings' Everywhere
February 7, 2013 The actor, nominated for an Academy Award for his role in David O. Russell's film, talks about watching movies with his father as a kid in Philadelphia, his childhood fascination with soldiers and being up against Daniel Day Lewis for an Oscar.
Book Reviews
A Mystery That Explores 'The Rage' Of New Ireland
February 6, 2013 Reporter-turned-novelist Gene Kerrigan sets his story in Ireland after the 2008 financial crisis. The Rage is a boundlessly readable portrait of a country in which ordinary citizens have been hit the hardest and all the old certainties have vanished.
Music Interviews
Anat Cohen: Bringing The Clarinet To The World
February 6, 2013 On her latest album, Claroscuro, the jazz clarinetist explores influences that range from Louis Armstrong to Brazilian music to that of her native Israel. It's this desire to adapt the instrument to so many musical traditions that has earned Cohen such acclaim.
Movie Interviews
Michael Apted, Aging With The '7 Up' Crew
February 5, 2013 Every seven years since 1964, the director has caught us up on the lives of 14 everyday people in his acclaimed 7 Up series. Apted was 22 when the series began, and the subjects were 7. In the latest episode — 56 Up — the subjects are well into middle age.
Theater
Rebecca Luker Has 'Got Love' For Jerome Kern
February 5, 2013 The Broadway star has a new album, I Got Love: Songs of Jerome Kern, which features songs by the great Broadway composer. The collection came out of a live show Luker performed at the Manhattan club 54 Below.
Music Reviews
Yo La Tengo: Decades In And Far From Fading
February 4, 2013 The indie-rock favorite's new album, Fade, demonstrates that the group is all grown up but not at all stuffy. The album's music and words add up to pure affirmation of life and living.
Author Interviews
A Barbados Family Tree With 'Sugar In The Blood'
February 4, 2013 In her new book, Andrea Stuart explores the intersection of sugar, slavery, settlement, migration and survival in the Americas. Stuart's personal history was shaped by these forces — she is descended from a slave owner who had relations with an unknown slave.
