In her new memoir, When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win: Reflections on Looking in the Mirror, stand-up comedian and Seinfeld writer Carol Leifer recounts her experiences working as a comedian.
The grainy, blurry portrait of Ran Blake on the cover of his album, Driftwoods, looks like spirit photography: the pianist as ghostly presence. His playing can be spooky, too. The CD radically transforms popular vocal standards from Billie Holiday, Hank Williams, Quincy Jones and more.
Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield are the directors behind the hit nature documentary series Planet Earth. Their new movie, Earth, uses some of the same footage but is "character-based" rather than "habitat based."
Critic-at-large John Powers explains why Gordon Ramsay, the profanity-prone star chef of Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, is "the world's greatest TV chef."
A concept album about fuel-efficient cars may not sounds like the most promising idea for lively music, but that's what Neil Young has done with his new collection of songs. Ken Tucker reviews Fork in the Road.
Author J.G. Ballard died April 19 from cancer. The science fiction writer produced more than 20 novels and short story collections, including Empire of the Sun and Love & Napalm: U.S.A. Fresh Air remembers Ballard with an archival interview.
Drugs prescribed for attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy, epilepsy and other conditions are being used by people who don't need them, in an effort to enhance brain function. Journalist Margaret Talbot discusses the trend.
The singer and songwriter's new double album, High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, is a tribute to the old-time country banjo player who died in 1931.
Critic David Edelstein says the new newspapers-and-politicos thriller is stuck in the 1970s — but don't expect All the President's Men. This is one Beltway time bomb that never explodes.
Kirstin Downey's biography of FDR's Labor Secretary Frances Perkins paints an inspiring and substantive portrait of the woman who ushered in the 40-hour work week.
From Broadway to Sesame Street, Kristen Chenoweth has tackled a wide range of roles, genres and media. Now, she tells her own story in her autobiography, A Little Bit Wicked.
Economist Simon Johnson discusses the next phase of the financial bailout. In the May issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Johnson insists that the U.S. government will have to get rid of its "financial oligarchy" to regain economic stability.
Journalist Michelle Goldberg discusses the politics, ideology and history of reproductive rights around the world in her new book The Means of Reproduction.
Jack Wrangler, an icon of gay adult films, died April 7. He appeared in more than 30 gay adult films and 20 straight adult films in the 1970s and 1980s. Fresh Air remembers him with an interview from 1985.
In his new book As They See 'Em, the journalist provides an insider's perspective on the dedicated umpires who face angry fans, disgruntled coaches and poor pay for the game they love.
In Let the Right One In, Eli and Oskar are both lonely 12-year-olds — but one of them happens to be a vampire. Critic-at-large John Powers calls the Swedish film "the best vampire movie in the last 75 years."
