Fresh Air
Weekdays at 7:00pm
Opening the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics.
Beautifully acted 'Shardlake' brings 500-year-old Tudor intrigue into the present day
by John Powers
A London barrister in Henry VIII's England finds himself investigating a murder in a monastery. Hulu's new four-part series, based on C.J. Sansom's 2003 novel, feels strikingly contemporary.
Beyoncé bucks the country industry establishment with sprawling 'Cowboy Carter'
by Ken Tucker
While Beyoncé's new album suggests the country-music industry's problematic history of excluding Black artists, the collection as a whole is as much a celebration as it is a critique.
'The Wide Wide Sea' revisits Capt. James Cook's fateful final voyage
by Dave Davies
"A lot of things started going wrong from the very beginning," historian Hampton Sides says of Cook's last voyage, which ended in the British explorer's violent death on the island of Hawaii in 1779.
'Our kids are not OK,' child psychiatrist Harold Koplewicz says
by Terry Gross
The founder of the Child Mind Institute explains why young people are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression — and what parents can do about it. His book is Scaffold Parenting.
Steve Martin documentary offers a delightful study of a relatively private man
by David Bianculli
A new Apple TV+ documentary profiles a man who appears to have found more joy as he's gotten older — and the more you watch this documentary, the more joy you'll find as well.
Ewan McGregor proves exceedingly appealing as 'A Gentleman in Moscow'
by John Powers
McGregor plays a Russian count put under house arrest after the revolution in a new Paramount+ series based on Amor Towles' 2016 novel. Critic John Powers calls it a light series about dark things.
Rhiannon Giddens and the Carolina Chocolate Drops put a modern twist on tradition
by Terry Gross
Giddens' banjo and viola are featured on Beyoncé's new country album. We listen back to a 2010 interview and in-studio performance by Giddens and the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Celebrating singer Sarah Vaughan, on what would have been her 100th birthday
by Kevin Whitehead
Born in 1924 in Newark, N.J., Vaughan came up in the '40s, alongside bebop, a new jazz style she instantly took to. In the following decades, she proved to be one of the best singers of any genre.
Why Oregon's groundbreaking drug decriminalization experiment is coming to an end
by Dave Davies
In 2020, voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs. Journalist E. Tammy Kim explains how and why public opinion has turned.