Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Uh Huh Her, the new album from PJ Harvey. Tucker says the artist displays a maturity that isn't weighed down by self-seriousness.
Allen writes for the National Catholic Reporter. He's a Vatican analyst for CNN and NPR, and he writes a weekly Internet column called The Word from Rome. His new book is called, All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks.
Moore is the president of the Club for Growth and contributing editor for National Review. The Club for Growth has a political action committee dedicated to elected conservative politicians who carry on the Reagan vision of "limited government and lowered taxes." Moore was the Cato Institute's director of fiscal policy studies, and is now a Cato senior fellow.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Pioneer Recording Bands 1917-1920, a new collection of jazz recorded before 1920 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and the Earl Fuller Orchestra.
His new book is Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004. He's a writer and editor for The New Yorker magazine and frequently contributes to its "Talk of the Town" section. Hertzberg was on the staff of the New Republic magazine for much of the 1980s. Hertzberg also spent time in the White House from 1979 to 1981 as Jimmy Carter's speechwriter. In the introduction to this book, The New Yorker's David Remnick says "as a writer he has tone control the way Billie Holliday had tone control."
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews The Art of Joseph Szigeti (pronounced sa-GEH-tee) on DVD. Hungarian-American violinist Szigeti (1892-1973) made more than 100 recordings before retiring in 1960.
His new book is Looking for Bobowicz. In addition to his duties as an NPR commentator, he's written more than 60 books for children and the young at heart, including Irving and Muktuk: Bad Bears in the Big City and The Picture of Morty and Ray. Pinkwater lives in upstate New York with his wife Jill, who illustrated Looking for Bobowicz.
Members Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp talk about their new CD, As Smart as We Are, which is a blend of literature and music. Each track is written by a different author, including Paul Auster and Margaret Atwood.
His new film is I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, directed by Mike Hodges. Owen and Hodges first worked together on the film Croupier. You can also see Owen in the new film King Arthur, in which he plays the title role. He also appeared in the films The Bourne Identity and Gosford Park.
A Palestinian American, Dajani is a co-producer of the show Mosaic on the satellite network Link TV. The show's mission is to bring world perspectives to American viewers. Dajani and staff translate Arab programming from Abu Dhabi, Beirut and Damascus into English, bringing viewers news rarely seen on American airwaves.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews An Unfinished Season, by Ward Just. He's known for weaving American history and politics into his fiction. This book is set in Chicago during the Eisenhower years.
McKay directed the new movie Anchorman, starring Will Ferrell, about a news anchor from the 1970s and his wacky adventures when a female anchor joins the staff. McKay was the head writer for Saturday Night Live from 1997 to 2001. During that time, he made a number of short film segments. Anchorman is his first feature-length work. McKay was one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe. He's an alum of the Second City Improv in Chicago and also had many bit parts on SNL.
Exum's new memoir, Man's Army: A Soldier's Story from the Front Lines of the War on Terrorism, recounts his experiences fighting in Afghanistan. In 2002, Exum fought with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan, where soldiers were often fighting a brutal guerilla war against the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Diamond is a professor of political science and sociology at Stanford University and an expert on democratic development and regime change. He is the coordinator of the Democracy Program of the new Center for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law at Stanford's Institute for International Studies. Diamond spent three months earlier this year advising the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
