In his new book Remix, law professor Lawrence Lessig explores the changing landscape of intellectual property in the digital age — and argues that antiquated copyright laws should be updated.
American composer Elliott Carter celebrates his 100th birthday this month, and three new CDs have been released in honor of the occasion. Fresh Air's classical music critic has a review.
The Wrestler is predictable, corny and heavy-handed, says critic David Edelstein, but with Mickey Rourke acting his heart out, the sheer adrenaline-pumping violence of the film gets into your bloodstream.
Composer Erran Baron Cohen's latest CD offers a new take on traditional sounds. He talks about the album — and about collaborating with his brother Sacha Baron Cohen on the movie Borat.
You'd have to be dedicated to your work to set yourself aflame for "research purposes" — but author Kevin Conley did just that. His new book catalogs his four years spent following Hollywood stuntmen.
You know you have a terrific book in your hands when you encounter language or elegantly presented research that startles you into fresh awareness; you know it when the atmosphere of a novel doesn't leave you for days, or years.
Bioethicist Arthur Caplan discusses the health care challenges facing the Obama administration. A professor of Bioethics at The University of Pennsylvania, Caplan was recently named one of the ten most influential people in science by Discover Magazine.
Food historian Anne Mendelson examines how varieties of animal milk have been processed and consumed since antiquity in her new book, Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk through the Ages.
After appearing in supporting roles in more than 50 films, actor Richard Jenkins takes the lead in The Visitor, Tom McCarthy's film about a solitary economics professor whose world opens up when he discovers an apartment he rented in New York is already occupied.
The veteran actor Robert Prosky was perhaps best known for his role as the big-hearted desk sergeant Stan Jablonski on Hill Street Blues. He died Monday at the age of 77.
TV critic David Bianculli shares his thoughts on the final episode of Boston Legal — and the announcement this week that Jay Leno will begin a new nightly prime-time talk show on NBC next year.
The film version of John Patrick Shanley play is a heavy slab of dramaturgy: It's dark, somber, yet unbelievably intense. Even on screen, it has the compressed quality of great theater.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new CD of Scott Wheeler's opera, based on a hymn to Boston by the New York poet Kenneth Koch. The disc captures a live performance by the Boston Cecilia choral society.
In 1977, historian James Reston Jr. helped prepare journalist David Frost for a series of interviews with Richard Nixon that resulted in the former president's tacit acknowledgment of his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Reston later chronicled the exchange in his book The Conviction of Richard Nixon.
Philip Seymour Hoffman stars in the film Doubt, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play. His character, a priest, provokes suspicion for his attention to a young student.
Frank Schaeffer's parents were best-selling authors who were instrumental in linking the evangelical community with the anti-abortion movement. But after helping to organize religious fundamentalists politically, Schaeffer had a crisis of faith and a change of heart.
Critic John Powers says the beautifully shot films of Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke register what's getting lost in China's transformation — and why Jia is one of the most eminent directors of our time.
This holiday season, as we stand at the brink of a new administration, there's a thrill of history in the air. These books will help anyone, whatever his or her politics, understand what the nation has come though to reach this moment.
