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Fresh Air Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair
Fresh Air

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Fresh Air

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Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.

Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair

Most Recent Episodes

Best Of: The Shakur Family Legacy / Birder Christian Cooper

Tupac Shakur — who was killed at 25 in 1996 — would have turned 52 this year. His mother, Afeni Shakur, was an activist and a central figure in the Black Panthers. Author and historian Santi Elijah Holley's new book, An Amerikan Family, follows the Shakur family tree and their work in the Black Liberation Movement.

Best Of: The Shakur Family Legacy / Birder Christian Cooper

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Remembering Daniel Ellsberg, Who Leaked Pentagon Papers

We remember Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press in 1971, in hopes they would help end the Vietnam War. He died last week at the age of 92. We'll listen to our 2017 interview with him. "I identify more with Chelsea Manning and with Edward Snowden than with any other people on earth," he told Dave Davies. "We all faced the same question which is, who will put this information out if I don't?" Also New York Times correspondent Charlie Savage shares a story about Ellsberg continuing to battle government secrecy when he was 90.

Remembering Daniel Ellsberg, Who Leaked Pentagon Papers

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Classroom Culture Wars & Teacher Burnout

Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson explains how the debates over teaching race, racism, gender identity and sexuality have put pressure on teachers who were already overworked and underpaid.

Classroom Culture Wars & Teacher Burnout

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Remembering Legendary Editor Robert Gottlieb

Gottlieb, who died last week at age 92, edited Joseph Heller, Toni Morrison, John le Carré and, for more than 50 years, Robert Caro. He went on to become editor of The New Yorker. We'll listen to our recent interview with Gottlieb, and we'll hear some of our interview recorded in 2000 with Gottlieb and musical theater expert Robert Kimball. They co-authored a book on some of the best lyricists of the last century.

Remembering Legendary Editor Robert Gottlieb

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The Countdown To End WWII

Author Evan Thomas tells the story of American leaders wrestling with the terrifying dilemmas of nuclear weapons and of determined Japanese leaders confronting the humiliating prospect of defeat. His book is Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II.

The Countdown To End WWII

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Celebrating America's Black Working Class

In Black Folk, Award-winning historian Blair LM Kelley portrays generations of Black workers — Pullman porters, domestic laborers, USPS employees, COVID-19 essential workers — whose work has been vital to the nation's prosperity.

Celebrating America's Black Working Class

Listen · 46:19
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Best Of: Writer Kwame Alexander / Chef Lidia Bastianich

Kwame Alexander's new memoir is Why Fathers Cry at Night. It started as a book of love poems, but ended up being a book of essays and poems about falling in love, the end of his two marriages, raising two children. He is best known for his children's books, including The Undefeated, which won the Caldecott Medal.

Best Of: Writer Kwame Alexander / Chef Lidia Bastianich

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John Mellencamp

We're revisiting Terry Gross's 2009 interview with musician John Mellencamp. He's got a new album called Orpheus Descending out this month. Mellencamp's big hits in the 1980s included "Jack and Diane" and "Small Town."

John Mellencamp

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Could Artificial Intelligence Destroy Humanity?

Artificial intelligence experts recently signed an open letter warning that A.I. could destroy humanity. New York Times technology reporter Cade Metz explains why we are at a turning point with this technology.

Could Artificial Intelligence Destroy Humanity?

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The Shakur Family Legacy, Tupac & Beyond

Tupac Shakur — who was killed at 25 in 1996 — would have turned 52 this year. His mother, Afeni Shakur, was an activist and a central figure in the Black Panthers. Author and historian Santi Elijah Holley's new book, An Amerikan Family, follows the Shakur family tree and their work in the Black Liberation Movement.

The Shakur Family Legacy, Tupac & Beyond

Listen · 46:34
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