"Behind the Burly Q"
Filmmaker Leslie Zemeckis discusses her documentary “Behind the Burly Q,” a comprehensive look at burlesque as told by the women performers themselves. April March, one of the dancers featured in the...
View ArticleWorld Voices
On today’s show, we’ll look at some of the sensible and senseless proposals for curbing global warming and the disasters associated with it. Then, we’ll learn about the unintended consequences of...
View ArticleThe PEN World Voices Festival
Salman Rushdie, and Caro Llewellyn, PEN World Voices Festival and Public Programs Director, discuss this year’s PEN World Voices Festival.It’s the only international literary festival in the United...
View ArticleFreedom and Captivity
Eric Volz describes his experience being wrongfully accused of murder while he was living in Nicaragua. Then, award-winning cartoonist, playwright, and author Jules Feiffer discusses his new...
View ArticleThe Long Song
Andrea Levy discusses her novel The Long Song. It tells the story of slavery in Jamaica, the bloody Baptist war, and the violent and chaotic end of slavery.
View ArticleJules Feiffer
Award-winning cartoonist, playwright, and author Jules Feiffer, talks about his life and his rise from a fearful kid with learning problems and a controlling mother, to working under the legendary Will...
View ArticleDanger, Drama, Dance, and Molly Ringwald
On today’s show, Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo tells his harrowing story of being kidnapped with his driver by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Then, Rita Tushingham helps us celebrate the 45th...
View ArticleDays of Fear
Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, talks about being kidnapped with his driver in Afghanistan and threatened with death if Italy didn’t remove troops from Afghanistan. When this demand wasn’t...
View ArticleThe Life of Lucia Chase
Alex C. Ewing, chancellor emeritus of the North Carolina School of the Arts and former general director of the Joffrey Ballet-- and Lucia Chase's son--and Kevin McKenzie, art director of the America...
View ArticleMolly Ringwald
Molly Ringwald talks about her career, which took off when she starred in the John Hughes high school classics "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," and "Pretty in Pink," and about turning 40. In...
View ArticleMad Men
We’ll look into the life and influences of James Earl Ray, the escaped convict who assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the international manhunt to find him. Then, Newsweek assistant managing...
View ArticleHellhound in Memphis
Hampton Sides, author of Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the International Hunt for His Assassin, and Stephen Ives, director of the documentary "Roads to Memphis,"...
View ArticleGirl in Translation
Jean Kwok discusses her debut novel, Girl in Translation, which tells the story of Kimberly Chang, who emigrates with her mother from Hong Kong to Brooklyn and begins a secret double life: exceptional...
View ArticleWith the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Film scholar Juan Salas talks about recently discovering an 18-minute film shot by Henri Cartier-Bresson called "With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain," made 1937-38. He’s be joined by Jeanne...
View ArticleLend Me a Tenor
Stanley Tucci, director of "Lend Me A Tenor," and Tony Shalhoub and Jan Maxwell, who star in it, discuss the play— a screwball comedy set in the 1930s. It’s playing at the Music Box Theatre.
View ArticleUncovered and Discovered
On today’s show, we’ll get a comprehensive history of anti-Semitism in England—from the expulsion of Jews by King Edward I up through today. Then, film scholar Juan Salas talks about his discovery of...
View ArticleDays of Wine and Scandals
Academy Award winning filmmaker Alex Gibney talks about “Casino Jack and the United States of Money,” his new film about the Abramoff scandal…we’ll also speak with former Ohio congressman Bob Ney, who...
View ArticleCasino Jack
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney discusses the inside story of the corruption scandals that brought down lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He’s joined by former Ohio congressman Bob Ney, who was...
View ArticleThe Men Who Would Be King
Variety reporter Nicole LaPorte, gives an insider’s account of the creation of Hollywood’s DreamWorks studio. In The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called...
View ArticleFoxy Pam Grier
Pam Grier, best known for her roles as Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Coffy, and Jackie Brown, talks about her life and career. In her memoir Foxy: My Life in Three Acts, she discusses her relationships...
View ArticlePrivate and Public Lives
On today’s show, former first lady Rosalynn Carter discusses her advocacy for the mentally ill. Then, Pam Grier talks about her life, career, and her with many memorable roles, like Jackie Brown. Also,...
View ArticleDecisive Actions
Director Tom Casciato and New York Times urban affairs correspondent Sam Roberts talk about the controversial legacy of New York Mayor John Lindsay. Then, Wes Moore, a former Rhodes scholar who...
View ArticleThe Other Wes Moore
Wes Moore discusses sharing the same name with a man from the same neighborhood he grew up in who went on to have a very different life. In The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, he describes...
View ArticleInnocent
Scott Turow talks about the sequel to the genre-defining, landmark bestseller Presumed Innocent. His latest book,Innocent continues the story of Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto who are, twenty years...
View ArticleLegends
Music icon Willie Nelson talks about his career in music and his latest album. Christopher Corbett discusses his new novel The Poker Bride, about a Chinese woman in the American west during the Gold...
View ArticleThe Poker Bride
Christopher Corbett discusses his novel, The Poker Bride. It’s based on a little-known legend about Polly, a young Chinese concubine at an Idaho mining camp who was traded in a poker game during the...
View ArticleDamon Wayans
Award-winning actor, stand-up comedian, writer, and producer Damon Wayans, talks about becoming famous on his brother Keenen Ivory Wayans's hit show, "In Living Color," his career in television and...
View ArticleWillie Nelson
Country music legend Willie Nelson talks about his long career in music, what keeps him inspired, and what it was like to work with producer T Bone Burnett and an all-star posse of pickers, including...
View ArticleWeighty Issues
Filmmaker Laura Poitras talks about her documentary "The Oath," about Osama Bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver. It’s been 50 years since the FDA approved the birth control pill, and we’ll look at its...
View Article"The Oath"
Filmmaker Laura Poitras discusses her documentary “The Oath,” about the divergent paths of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard, Abu Jandal, and driver, Salim Hamdan. Their intertwined personal stories shed...
View Article"Metropolis" Reconstructed
Paula Felix-Didier, director of the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducros Hicken in Buenos Aires, Argentina, discusses a new reconstruction of Fritz Lang’s legendary 1927 film “Metropolis.” It includes nearly...
View ArticleFilm Project Examines Effect of Public Cameras
After the discovery of a failed car bomb in Times Square last Saturday, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly says he'd like to see even more cameras in Times Square and throughout Midtown. In Madison Square...
View ArticleEssentially Ellington
Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and director of the JLC Orchestra, talks about Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival. He’s...
View ArticleAmerica, Whaling & the World
Filmmaker Ric Burns tells the story of three centuries of American whaling. His documentary "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World" reveals how whaling helped fuel the expansion of the...
View ArticleThe Council of Dads
Bestselling author Bruce Feiler talks about what happened when he was diagnosed with cancer and began worrying about what his young daughters' lives would be like without him. In The Council of Dads:...
View ArticleBeetle Queen
Jessica Oreck, animal keeper at the American Museum of Natural History, discusses her lifelong love of insects and her new documentary "Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo," which explores the world of...
View ArticleWynton, Whales, and What's for Dinner
Wynton Marsalis talks about Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition. Then, we’ll explore the complex and often violent history of American whaling with filmmaker Ric...
View Article"Theater for One" Takes Performance Inside the Box
In a modified cargo box in Times Square, a production is going on -- with enough room for one performer and a single audience member. WNYC’s Janaya Williams took in a show at the intimate performance...
View ArticleProgram Allows Artists to Trade Creative Services for Health Care
Working artists in New York are twice as likely to be living without adequate health insurance as those who make their living by other means. And after health care funding was slashed by $775 million...
View ArticleThe Autobiography of Mark Twain
A century after his death, Mark Twain has finally published his autobiography. It's not a cradle-to-grave memoir, but a kind of window into Twain's mind, full of memories and thoughts randomly strung...
View ArticleSusan Cheever on Louisa May Alcott
Susan Cheever discusses the life of writer Louisa May Alcott. Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography is an account of Alcott’s life, based on extensive research, journals, and correspondence, that...
View ArticleAmerican Icons, The Listener Pick: “Dallas”
For our American Icons series this fall, we've looked at nine different great works, but we've also been asking listeners to suggest what our tenth should be. Laura Detre, a listener in Pittsburgh,...
View ArticleGodfather of Bacteria
In 1928 the Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovered the fungus from which penicillin is derived. Fleming made the discovery while trying an unusual experiment: painting with strains of...
View ArticleConnie Converse Walking In the Dark
During the 1950s Connie Converse lived in New York City writing and singing thoughtful, emotional, smart, witty, personal songs. She accompanied herself on guitar, a "singer/songwriter" before that...
View ArticleDavid Carr, Investigating His Own Life
New York Times media columnist David Carr died Thursday at the age of 58. For 25 years, he covered the media industry for the paper, but in this interview, which originally aired on September 8, 2008,...
View ArticleRedesigning Uncle Sam
As part of our summer redesign challenge, we've asked illustrator-designer Kate Bingaman-Burt to makeover Uncle Sam. She enlisted her graphic design students at Portland State University to come up...
View ArticleThis Land Is Your Land
It wasn't sold or played on the radio, but Woody Guthrie's song became an American classic. It was also attacked as anti-American. The history behind “This Land Is Your Land,” from our series “American...
View ArticleAmerican Icons: Harley-Davidson
It's not the fastest motorcycle or the fanciest, but to many Americans, a motorcycle is a Harley-Davidson. Veteran NPR producer Jay Allison, a longtime biker, heads to Laconia Bike Week to find the...
View ArticleAmerican Icons: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Skull Paintings
"The men were all talking about the great American novel, the great American play...the great American everything," said Georgia O’Keeffe. "So I thought, I’ll make it an American painting.” O'Keeffe...
View ArticleAmerican Icons: Jimi Hendrix’s “Star-Spangled Banner”
In 1969, Jimi Hendrix's performance of the national anthem at Woodstock hit like a shock wave; with its distortion and chaos, it sounded like a rupture in something sacred. Two music scholars and two...
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