'The Shrouds' introduces a new stage of grief: Watching your loved one decompose
David Cronenberg's thriller centers on an unusual technology that allows people to watch their loved ones decompose in real time. The Shrouds is both deeply morbid and disarmingly funny.
A doctor chronicles life in a Chicago ER during the first year of the pandemic
Though he fully expected to be infected with COVID, Dr. Thomas Fisher says he was committed to providing medical care to the Black community on Chicago's South Side. His new book is The Emergency.
Cecil Taylor's piano lightning bolts are precisely targeted in this 1973 recording
Taylor's 1973 concert at New York's Town Hall has just been released for the first time as a digital album. It's a great, early example of Taylor's mature music — dense but well-designed.
For classical pianist Jeremy Denk, life is like a series of music lessons
The MacArthur "genius" grant winner talks about what he learned from his piano teachers, and his failures, frustrations and pivotal moments as an artist. Denk's new memoir is Every Good Boy Does Fine.
Remembering William Hurt, star of 'Broadcast News' and 'The Big Chill'
Hurt, who died March 13, won an Oscar for his performance as a drag queen sharing a prison cell with a political dissident in the 1985 film Kiss of the Spider Woman. Originally broadcast in 2010.
Russia's war in Ukraine has NATO on alert. Here's how we got to this point
Historian Mary Elise Sarotte tells how NATO expanded into Eastern Europe after the fall of the U.S.S.R, and is now obligated to defend nations near Russia's war in Ukraine. Her book is Not One Inch.
Remembering jazz trumpet player Ron Miles, a thinking person's improviser
Some trumpeters aim to blow you away with their imposing technique; Miles drew the listener in. The performer, who died March 8, specialized in genre-blurring jazz that mixed old and new sounds.
A doctor reveals the hidden wonders of the human body
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.