Echoing music from the 1950s and '60s, Pay the Devil is the new album from Van Morrison. The album has Morrison reprising songs made famous by Hank Williams, Webb Pierce and Connie Smith.
The new season of The Sopranos opens on Sunday, bringing the world of Tony and Carmela, Christopher and Paulie Walnuts back to dens around the country. The show's last previous episode aired in the summer of 2004.
The director James Burrows is being honored this week with a career tribute at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Burrows made his name with classic TV sitcoms including The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show. After helping to create Cheers, Burrows directed episodes of many other hit sitcoms, including Night Court, Frasier, Friends and Will and Grace.
A middle-aged woman awakens one morning to a sense of dread, a malaise so deep that she studiously analyzes her life — both past and present — to uncover its source. So begins Hilma Wolitzer's new book, The Doctor's Daughter.
Congressional reform of the lobbying system is nettled by competing agendas and concerns over freedom of speech. But in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, the discussion has become more heated. James Thurber is an expert on politics and lobbying who has testified before Congress.
The Six-Day War of 1967 left Israel with a dilemma: what to do with the land it had taken in the process of winning a conflict that also involved Egypt, Syria and Jordan. A new book, The Accidental Empire, looks at what came next.
A new sitcom premieres on ABC Tuesday that blends scripted stories with improv. Sons and Daughters was created by Fred Goss and Nick Holly; its executive producers include Lorne Michaels, of Saturday Night Live fame.
Rabbit Fur Coat is the debut solo album by Jenny Lewis, the former child-actress who is also the former lead singer of the cult-indie rock band Rilo Kiley.
Stuart Murdoch is the front man for the Scottish indie-pop band Belle and Sebastian. For the group's new CD, The Life Pursuit, they've broken two long-standing traditions: making quietly precious music, and refusing to embrace the media.
The jazz trio headed by Sam Rivers has a new CD out, Violet Violets (Stunt label). Rivers' horn work is complemented by bassist Ben Street and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood.
Science fiction writer Octavia Butler died Feb. 28 at the age of 58. The cause of death has not been determined. Because she was black and female, Butler was considered atypical of science fiction. But she was also among the genre's most talented writers.
Film critic David Edelstein reviews the films that are up for an Academy award under the Best Foreign Language Film category. They are: Paradise Now, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, Don't Tell, Joyeux Noel and Tsotsi.
A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan is the new history from Michael Kazin. Bryan has been described by Kazin as "one of the most crucial Americans never to win a presidential election."
Abortion has been a defining issue since 1973. But for Eyal Press, it was a defining element of his childhood. A colleague of Press's father was killed for performing abortions. And Dr. Press received threats. Eyal Press offers a front-row view in Absolute Convictions.
James Allen is the 81-year-old director of the Addicts Rehabilitation Center. Soon after he founded the center in 1957 — after kicking his own habit — Allen founded the a cappella Addicts Rehabilitation Center Gospel Choir (ARC). Their song "Walk With Me" was heard recently as a sample on the Kanye West song "Jesus Walks."
A new book details the scandalous, sensational, partisan press — of the 1700s. Fox News journalist Eric Burns' Infamous Scribblers: the Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism tells the stories.
A hardened young South African gang leader steals a woman's car -â then finds out her baby is in the back seat. So starts the South African film Tsotsi, which is up for an Academy Award for best foreign film.
