On the new album Trombone Tribe, trombonist Roswell Rudd plays with a number of groups including his own sextet. Music critic Kevin Whitehead has a review.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, is the first democratically elected woman leader in Africa. Since taking office in 2006, Johnson Sirleaf has fought to reconstruct the state and rescue Liberia's failing economy.
Hailed as "the best baseball movie ever," Sugar follows one young man's journey from a village in the Dominican Republic to a minor league baseball team in Iowa. Filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck talk about creating the film.
Screenwriter Mike White and his father, gay rights activist Mel White, recently danced, ran and bobsledded around the globe as part of The Amazing Race. The duo talks about their relationship and reality-TV adventures.
Psychologist Richard Weissbourd contends that parents who are obsessed with their children's happiness are ignoring other important values — like goodness, empathy, appreciation and caring — that are necessary to a well-rounded personality.
British comic Russell Brand is known for his outlandish appearance, sharp wit and no-holds-barred language. He's put his over-the-top comedy on the page with his new memoir My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-up.
Pop legend Prince has a new triple-album release called Lotusflow3r. It features two solo albums by Prince and a debut album by Bria Valente, co-written and co-produced by Prince. Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review.
When Henry Ford bought up a Connecticut-sized chunk of land in the Amazon River basin in 1927, he wasn't just planning to build his own vertically-integrated rubber plantation — he also envisioned the small-town America of his youth, reborn in the jungle.
Wall Street Journal economics editor David Wessel's new book, In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic, examines the expanding powers of the Federal Reserve in the face of the current economic crisis.
Movie critic David Edelstein reviews Greg Mottola's new film Adventureland coming-of-age tale that's "quiet and forlorn, yet still somehow light on its feet."
Tonight NBC devotes its entire prime-time schedule to a sendoff of ER, the medical drama series that has been running on the network since 1994. Critic David Bianculli wonders what comes next.
Author, doctor and bioethicist Robert Martensen has treated an estimated 75,000 patients in the emergency room and the ICU. In his new book, A Life Worth Living Martensen presents case studies that illustrate the problems and complexities of American health care system
By refusing to serve up even one likable main character, Zoe Heller's new novel raises implicit questions about readers' expectations about fiction. Reviewer Maureen Corrigan calls The Believers a "smart, caustic novel."
Long a standout purveyor of rootsy, direct "heartland" rock, Mellencamp is in the midst of a folksy, pessimistic streak on his new album. He speaks to host Terry Gross about the spare sound and dark themes of Life, Death, Love and Freedom.
Journalist Seymour Hersh reports that a major change in American policy toward Syria is underway. It's part of a broader strategy to bring peace to the Middle East and counter the influence of Iran.
The term "populist" has been heavily used by the media lately, most often coupled with "rage," but also with "AIG" and "pitchfork." Linguist Geoff Nunberg examines the roots of the term as well as its current usage.
In Ramin Bahrani's new film, Goodbye Solo, a Senegalese immigrant cabdriver tries to save an elderly passenger who he suspects is suicidal. Reviewer David Edelstein calls it a "film of overflowing humanism."
John Hope Franklin died March 25 at the age of 94. As a historian, scholar, and activist Franklin advanced African-American causes throughout his career. Fresh Air remembers the historian and scholar with an interview from 1990.
