Terry Gross

A teacher walks through an empty classroom at Hazelwood Elementary School in Louisville, Ky., on Jan. 11. Jon Cherry/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Jon Cherry/Getty Images A teacher walks through an empty classroom at Hazelwood Elementary School in Louisville, Ky., on Jan. 11. Jon Cherry/Getty Images Between fights over mask mandates and new legislation dictating how history should be taught, schools have become a battleground for America’s culture wars. Recently, the Florida Department of Education announced that it was rejecting dozens of math textbooks because they incorporated “prohibited topics” or “unsolicited strategies,” such as critical race theory. New York Times […]

In his new book, The Unseen Body, Dr. Jonathan Reisman offers a guided tour inside the human body, from the remarkable design of our organs to the messages contained in our body fluids. Source link

New Yorker staff writer Masha Gessen says there’s been an exodus from Russia in the last week and a half: “It’s a sudden and drastic descent into a sense of having no country.” Source link

Amy Bloom and Brian Ameche married in 2007. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019. Beth Kelly Photography hide caption toggle caption Beth Kelly Photography Amy Bloom and Brian Ameche married in 2007. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019. Beth Kelly Photography Shortly after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019, architect Brian Ameche, then in his mid-60s, told his wife, novelist Amy Bloom, that he wanted to end life on his own terms, before the disease robbed him of everything. Bloom was reluctant, but Ameche was resolute — and he needed her help. “He had strong […]

Audience members sit separately for social distancing at a cinema in China’s eastern Zhejiang province in July 2020. AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption AFP via Getty Images Audience members sit separately for social distancing at a cinema in China’s eastern Zhejiang province in July 2020. AFP via Getty Images Today’s Hollywood blockbusters are specifically being crafted to appeal to Chinese audiences — and pass muster with the Chinese government — according to Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel. He highlights a few notable situations of product placement: In the 2014 film Transformers: Age of Extinction, Mark Wahlberg’s character […]

While working for the Department of Justice, Coates says she saw voter rolls being purged and instances where polling places were moved to known Klan locations. Her new memoir is Just Pursuit. (Image credit: Amanda Ghobadi /Simon & Schuster) Source link

New Yorker writer Evan Osnos says no one in media has profited more from the Trump era than Bongino, who hosts the country’s fourth most listened to radio show and has 8.5 million weekly listeners. Source link

The South African leader was key to the anti-apartheid movement. He chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and preached forgiveness. Tutu died Dec. 26. Originally broadcast in ’84 and ’99. Source link

Dole, who died Dec. 5, represented Kansas in the Senate for 27 years, and was the Republican nominee for president in 1996. He spoke to Fresh Air in ’05 about his experiences fighting in World War II. Source link

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. How did two sisters, just three years apart, take extremely divergent paths in life? That’s the story my guest, Dawn Turner, tries to figure out in her new memoir. Turner is a journalist and novelist. For about 15 years, she wrote a column in the Chicago Tribune about race-related issues. Her sister, Kim, died at age 24 of what her death certificate attributed to chronic alcoholism. The memoir is also about Turner’s childhood best friend, Debra, who was convicted of murder and spent years in prison. Turner’s book also explores about […]

DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross. We’re going to remember former Senator Max Cleland, a Vietnam War veteran and triple amputee who rebuilt his life after the war by dedicating himself to public service. He died Tuesday at the age of 79. Cleland earned a Bronze Star and Silver Star in combat, then entered politics in 1970, two years after he was injured, winning a seat in the Georgia state Senate. He went on to head the Veterans Administration under President Carter, then became secretary of state in Georgia for 14 years. Cleland […]

Najibullah Quraishi has won numerous awards for his reporting, including three Emmy awards, a Peabody award, an Overseas Press Club award and a DuPont award. He’s currently in Kabul, where he’s waiting to hear when he can get a flight out of Afghanistan. Courtesy of PBS Frontline hide caption toggle caption Courtesy of PBS Frontline Najibullah Quraishi has won numerous awards for his reporting, including three Emmy awards, a Peabody award, an Overseas Press Club award and a DuPont award. He’s currently in Kabul, where he’s waiting to hear when he can get a flight out of Afghanistan. Courtesy of PBS […]

In 1977, Spong became one of the first American bishops to ordain a woman into the clergy. In 1989, he was the first to ordain an openly gay man. Spong died Sept. 12. Originally broadcast in 1996. Source link

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m David Bianculli, in for Terry Gross. Former war correspondent Joe Galloway, the only civilian awarded a Medal of Valor by the Army for combat action in the Vietnam War, died last week at the age of 79. We’re going to listen back to excerpts of two interviews with him. As a 24-year-old UPI correspondent, Galloway was at the first major battle of the Vietnam War. He collaborated on the bestselling book about that battle called “We Were Soldiers Once… And Young: Ia Drang – The Battle That Changed The War In Vietnam.” He […]

Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images Human beings are programmed to approach pleasure and avoid pain. It’s an instinct that dates back millions of years, to a time when people needed to actively seek food, clothing and shelter every day, or risk death. But psychiatrist Anna Lembke says that in today’s world, such basic needs are often readily available — which changes the equation. “Living in this modern age is very challenging. … We’re now having to cope with: How do I live in a world in which everything is provided?” Lembke says. “And if I consume too much of it […]

A contractor works to recount ballots from the 2020 general election in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 1. The Maricopa County ballot recount comes after two election audits found no evidence of widespread fraud in Arizona. Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images A contractor works to recount ballots from the 2020 general election in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 1. The Maricopa County ballot recount comes after two election audits found no evidence of widespread fraud in Arizona. Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images President Biden was sworn into office more than six months ago, but officials in Maricopa County, Ariz., are […]

How Jad Abumrad, ‘Radiolab’ Creator And Co-Host, Got Hooked On Storytelling : NPR How Jad Abumrad, ‘Radiolab’ Creator And Co-Host, Got Hooked On Storytelling Abumrad set out to compose film scores, but instead turned his focus to journalism. He has a new podcast miniseries called The Vanishing of Harry Pace. Source link

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. Though this year’s proliferation of bills restricting ballot access in red states has commanded national attention, it represents just one stream in a torrent of conservative legislation posed to remake the country. GOP controlled states have advanced their most conservative agenda in years, and one that reflects Donald Trump’s present stamp on the party. That’s what my guest, Ronald Brownstein, wrote in a recent column in The Atlantic, where he’s a senior editor. He’s also a senior political analyst at CNN. Earlier this year, he wrote a column in The Atlantic […]

Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images In a new book, two New York Times journalists report that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg often doesn’t see the downside of the social media platform he created. In their new book, An Ugly Truth, Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang write that Zuckerberg tends to believe that free speech will drown out bad speech. “[Zuckerberg’s] view was that even if there were lies [on Facebook] — lies from a politician such as Donald Trump — that the public would respond with their own fact checks of the president and that the fact […]

In 1873, Congress passed a law outlawing the distribution, sale, mailing and possession of “obscene” materials — including contraception. The Comstock Act, as it became known, was named after Anthony Comstock, an anti-vice crusader who later became a special agent to the U.S. Post Office, giving him the power to enforce the law. In her new book, The Man Who Hated Women, author Amy Sohn writes about Comstock — as well as eight women charged with violating the Comstock Act. While working for the post office, Sohn says, Comstock “decoyed people” by using the mail to solicit obscenity and contraception. “[Comstock] […]

Fifty years ago, Daniel Ellsberg leaked classified information about U.S. policy in Vietnam to the press. We listen back to archival interviews with Ellsberg and Ben Bradlee of The Washington Post. Source link

President Biden has asked the intelligence community to investigate whether or not the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Vanity Fair reporter Katherine Eban shares her findings. Source link

New York Times investigative reporter Michael Schwirtz gained access to the dashboard of DarkSide, a Russian ransomware operation that’s pulled in more than $90 million since it began last August. Source link

Time correspondent Simon Shuster says that Andriy Derkach, a seven-term member of the Ukrainian parliament, gave misleading information to Rudy Giuliani to discredit Biden during the 2020 campaign. Source link

Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the poetry collection Counting Descent. Carletta Girma/Courtesy of Broadside hide caption toggle caption Carletta Girma/Courtesy of Broadside Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the poetry collection Counting Descent. Carletta Girma/Courtesy of Broadside Growing up in New Orleans, Atlantic writer Clint Smith was surrounded by reminders the Confederacy. To get to school, he traveled down Robert E. Lee Boulevard. He took Jefferson Davis Highway when he went to the grocery store. In elementary and middle school, Smith never learned about the legacy […]

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. My guest, Nick Corasaniti, has been reporting on what he describes as how the Republican Party is attempting to lock in political control for years to come by pushing through new laws to restrict voting access, limit ballot initiatives that could undermine Republican goals and stiffen penalties for poll workers and election officials who make even minor mistakes. At the same time, Republican lawmakers in at least eight states controlled by Republican legislatures are trying to remove the powers that secretaries of state, governors and nonpartisan election boards have over how […]

Juneteenth celebrates the day slavery ended in Texas, June 19, 1865. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed studies the early American republic and the legacy of slavery. Source link

It’s estimated that one in 10 women experience endometriosis during their reproductive years, a condition where cells that line the uterus go rogue by moving to other organs, taking root and spreading there, leading to terrible pain. Many women who have the disorder struggle to be properly diagnosed. It was years before Linda Griffith, a top biological engineer at MIT, knew why she was experiencing exceptionally heavy periods and debilitating pain. “I was told it was normal. I was told that I was under stress … [that] I was rejecting my femininity,” she says. When a doctor finally diagnosed her with […]

Residents of Chicago’s majority Black Englewood neighborhood (shown above in 2014) have a life expectancy that’s about 30 years shorter than residents of the mostly white Streeterville neighborhood. Warren Skalski/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Warren Skalski/The Washington Post via Getty Images Residents of Chicago’s majority Black Englewood neighborhood (shown above in 2014) have a life expectancy that’s about 30 years shorter than residents of the mostly white Streeterville neighborhood. Warren Skalski/The Washington Post via Getty Images There is a 30-year gap in the life expectancy of Black and white Chicagoans depending on their zip code. On […]

Alison Bechdel Takes On Exercise Trends In ‘The Secret to Superhuman Strength’ : NPR Alison Bechdel Takes On Exercise Trends In ‘The Secret to Superhuman Strength’ Bechdel’s new graphic memoir is about her lifelong obsession with exercise. She says she has a “predisposition of being extremely self-conscious and very caught up in my head” — and exercise helps. Source link

Nicole Lynn Lewis is the author of Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families. Elissa Nadworny/NPR hide caption toggle caption Elissa Nadworny/NPR Nicole Lynn Lewis is the author of Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families. Elissa Nadworny/NPR When Nicole Lynn Lewis got pregnant in high school, she thought it might end her dream of going to college and having a career. She felt ashamed, in part because of how people regarded her as a pregnant Black teenager. “In that moment, as I […]

Lauren Hough struggled to adjust after escaping a doomsday cult. “There’s an aspect of trauma that’s hard to explain,” she says. “It’s exhausting to be scared all of the time. That anxiety just starts to weigh on you.” Karl Poss IV/Knopf Doubleday hide caption toggle caption Karl Poss IV/Knopf Doubleday Lauren Hough struggled to adjust after escaping a doomsday cult. “There’s an aspect of trauma that’s hard to explain,” she says. “It’s exhausting to be scared all of the time. That anxiety just starts to weigh on you.” Karl Poss IV/Knopf Doubleday Writer Lauren Hough grew up in a nomadic doomsday […]

Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. was born in Sierra Leone and came to the U.S. when he was 8. He regrets that he no longer has an accent. “The accent is like a reminder of who you are and it’s a reminder of where you come from,” he says. Aundre Larrow/Spotify hide caption toggle caption Aundre Larrow/Spotify Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. was born in Sierra Leone and came to the U.S. when he was 8. He regrets that he no longer has an accent. “The accent is like a reminder of who you are and it’s a reminder of where you come from,” he […]

DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. G. Gordon Liddy, the former FBI agent who planned the Watergate burglary that led to President Richard Nixon’s downfall, died Tuesday at his daughter’s home in Virginia. He was 90. Known for his dark, bushy mustache and fierce loyalty to the president, Liddy was among the most colorful of the Watergate figures. Working for Nixon and his reelection campaign, Liddy developed many bizarre plots to neutralize Nixon’s adversaries, including kidnappings, sting operations, using prostitutes, even the proposed assassination of newspaper columnist Jack Anderson. Most were never acted upon. Liddy never pleaded guilty to his […]

Elizabeth Neumann resigned from the Department of Homeland Security in 2020. She says the Trump administration ignored the threat — and fanned the flames — of violent domestic extremism. Source link

For people serving time in jail or prison, it may seem like punishment ends on the day of release. But in fact, thousands of restrictions dictate the terms of life after incarceration, too. University of Chicago professor Reuben Jonathan Miller estimates that there are 45,000 “laws, policies and administrative sanctions” in the U.S. that target people with criminal records. Some ban the formerly incarcerated from serving on juries. Others prevent people with records from gaining employment. “For example, in the state of Illinois, it took a legislative act to allow people with criminal records who were trained as barbers in U.S. […]

This year, Batiste took his music to the streets, performing at protests and vaccination sites. “I wanted to articulate … that we’re all in this together,” Batiste says. His new album is We Are. (Image credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images) Source link

Katie Engelhart details the right-to-die movement in her new book, The Inevitable. She says that many patients in the U.S. are forced to act alone, without their loved one’s knowledge, because they fear their loved ones will be prosecuted after the fact. Germán Vogel/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Germán Vogel/Getty Images Katie Engelhart details the right-to-die movement in her new book, The Inevitable. She says that many patients in the U.S. are forced to act alone, without their loved one’s knowledge, because they fear their loved ones will be prosecuted after the fact. Germán Vogel/Getty Images When you have a […]

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. Some of the most viewed, most remarkable and revealing video of the January 6 Capitol riot was shot inside the Senate chamber by my guest, Luke Mogelson. Some of his video was used as evidence by House managers prosecuting Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. Mogelson was reporting for The New Yorker on the Trump rally that preceded the storming of the Capitol, walked with the mob to the Capitol and after rioters breached the building, he entered with them. In the Senate chamber, he recorded video of Trump supporters […]

Increased household responsibilities during the pandemic have forced many working mothers to scale back on their hours or to leave the workforce entirely. ljubaphoto/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption ljubaphoto/Getty Images Increased household responsibilities during the pandemic have forced many working mothers to scale back on their hours or to leave the workforce entirely. ljubaphoto/Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic has left many American families without child care and in-person schooling. Those new household burdens have largely landed on the shoulders of women, says Journalist Claire Cain Miller. Miller has been working from home, reporting on how the pandemic has affected the […]

Westend61/Getty Images/Westend61 Westend61/Getty Images/Westend61 Law professor and human rights activist Rosa Brooks wanted to better understand police violence and the racial disparities in America’s criminal justice system, so she decided to join the police force as a volunteer. As a reserve officer with the Washington, D.C. police department, Brooks received the same training as officers at the police academy and was sent on patrol like other police. From 2016 until 2020, she carried a badge and a gun and worked a minimum of 24 hours a month — all on a voluntary basis. Brooks says her family — including her mother, […]

New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth says it may take years to fully understand the extent of the SolarWinds cyber security breach. Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth says it may take years to fully understand the extent of the SolarWinds cyber security breach. Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images In December 2020, a U.S. cybersecurity company announced it had recently uncovered a massive cyber breach. The hack dates back to March 2020, and possibly even earlier, when an adversary, believed to be Russia, hacked into the computer […]

Sgt. Alice White has been with the Minneapolis Police Department since 2004. She’s one of four officers profiled in the documentary Women in Blue, on the PBS Independent Lens series. Erica Tricknor/PBS hide caption toggle caption Erica Tricknor/PBS Sgt. Alice White has been with the Minneapolis Police Department since 2004. She’s one of four officers profiled in the documentary Women in Blue, on the PBS Independent Lens series. Erica Tricknor/PBS In 2014, Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, was killed on a sidewalk in Staten Island, N.Y., when a male police officer put him in a chokehold during a misdemeanor arrest. […]

Evan Osnos talks about Joe Biden’s enduring quest to become president. He says Biden has a different mindset today than he once had: “He’s a man who is at peace.” Originally broadcast Oct. 27, 2020. Hear The Original Interview Politics Biography Traces Political Mistakes And Personal Scars That Shaped Joe Biden Source link

With the pandemic, many people are turning to at-home workouts and walks in their neighborhoods. That’s good, says Exercised author Daniel Lieberman. “You don’t have to do incredible strength training … to get some benefits of physical activity.” Grace Cary/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Grace Cary/Getty Images With the pandemic, many people are turning to at-home workouts and walks in their neighborhoods. That’s good, says Exercised author Daniel Lieberman. “You don’t have to do incredible strength training … to get some benefits of physical activity.” Grace Cary/Getty Images For much of history, human beings needed to be physically active every […]

Sean Gladwell/Getty Images Sean Gladwell/Getty Images Interested in learning a new skill in the new year? CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta says that will also improve your brain health. “The act of experiencing something new — or even doing something that’s typical for you, but in a different way — can all generate these new brain cells,” says Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon and associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. “We want to constantly be using new paths and trails and roads within our brain.” The new skill can be simple, Gupta notes. If you’re right […]

“You have a group of 650 people whose wealth has gone up a trillion dollars since mid-March,” says Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies. He recommends taxing a portion of those gains. Source link

‘Bad Behavior By People In High Office’: Rachel Maddow On The Lessons Of Spiro Agnew : NPR ‘Bad Behavior By People In High Office’: Rachel Maddow On The Lessons Of Spiro Agnew Richard Nixon’s first vice president resigned amid charges of bribery and tax evasion. Maddow and Mike Yarvitz revisit Agnew’s story in the podcast (and now book) Bag Man. Originally broadcast in ’19. Source link

President Trump, shown here in Miami on Nov. 2, is driven by a quest for power, White House correspondent Maggie Haberman says. “Almost everything about Donald Trump for 50 years at this point has been about power and dominance,” she says. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images President Trump, shown here in Miami on Nov. 2, is driven by a quest for power, White House correspondent Maggie Haberman says. “Almost everything about Donald Trump for 50 years at this point has been about power and dominance,” she says. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images […]

Brittany Barnett works on behalf of people serving harsh sentences as a result of the war on drugs. Nine of her clients have been granted clemency. Her new memoir is A Knock at Midnight. Source link

The legendary aviator, who died Dec. 7, served as a fighter pilot in World War II. Later, as a test pilot, he was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. Originally broadcast in 1988. Source link

Journalist Stephen Kinzer reveals how the CIA worked in the 1950s and early ’60s to develop mind control drugs and deadly toxins that could be used against enemies. Originally broadcast Sept. 9, 2019. Source link

Former President Barack Obama speaks at a Biden-Harris drive-in rally in Miami on Oct. 24. In his first interview with Terry Gross, Obama talks about what he misses most about being president and reflects on the turmoil of the Trump White House. Obama’s new memoir is A Promised Land. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images Former President Barack Obama speaks at a Biden-Harris drive-in rally in Miami on Oct. 24. In his first interview with Terry Gross, Obama talks about what he misses most about being president and reflects on the turmoil of […]

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. Presidents typically reserve their most controversial decisions for their last weeks in office, writes my guest, journalist Garrett Graff. He says, so imagine what might happen in a post-election period when Donald Trump, a president who has spent four years demonstrating his lack of interest in norms and practices of a democracy, retains all the powers and authority of the presidency and officially has nothing left to lose. In an article in Politico Magazine, Graff lays out some of the norm-busting actions Trump may take in the days remaining in his […]

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. This election has not only been a political contest, it’s been a stress test of our election system and how it holds up in a divisive time, a time of disinformation and a time when the president was unwilling to say that he’d accept the vote if he lost and peacefully hand over power. The election that could break America is how my guest, Barton Gellman, described it in an article published in the November issue of The Atlantic. He updated that story earlier this week in an article titled “How […]

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. My guest, Jerald Walker, is the author of a new collection of personal essays called “How To Make A Slave And Other Essays.” The title comes from Frederick Douglass’ famous line, you have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man. The book includes essays about growing up on Chicago’s South Side, learning how to prevent his personal essays from turning into cliches about ghetto life, raising his two sons in a predominantly white suburb a block away from the college […]

When his wife and young daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972, Biden struggled to acknowledge his grief publicly. “He didn’t want to become a symbol of human vulnerability. But it was thrust upon him and he had to decide whether to embrace it,” Evan Osnos says. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images When his wife and young daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972, Biden struggled to acknowledge his grief publicly. “He didn’t want to become a symbol of human vulnerability. But it was thrust upon him and […]

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I’m David Bianculli, editor of the website TV Worth Watching, sitting in for Terry Gross. Today, we’re marking the centennial of the birth of psychologist Timothy Leary, considered the father of the psychedelic movement of the 1960s and its experiments with mind-altering drugs. He was born 100 years ago yesterday. We’ll listen to an excerpt of our 1983 interview with him and with Richard Alpert, who conducted research with Leary in the 1960s and later became known as Ram Dass. And we’ll hear about much more recent research into the therapeutic benefits of LSD […]

Nina Totenberg became NPR’s legal correspondent in 1975. “In the beginning, NPR was a tiny little place,” she says. Wanyu Zhang/NPR hide caption toggle caption Wanyu Zhang/NPR Nina Totenberg became NPR’s legal correspondent in 1975. “In the beginning, NPR was a tiny little place,” she says. Wanyu Zhang/NPR NPR legal correspondent Nina Totenberg has spent decades covering major shifts in the Supreme Court and breaking major stories about the Court. Watching Judge Amy Coney Barrett‘s Senate confirmation hearings, Totenberg was struck by the nominee’s reticence. “There was almost nothing she was willing to say about anything,” Totenberg says. “Amy Coney Barrett […]