Laurie Anderson Performs "Dirtday" at Salem College
Laurie Anderson has chosen the roads less traveled for more than four decades. Her groundbreaking original works seamlessly blend the worlds of art, theatre, storytelling and experimental music.
Arts
'American Winter' Families Struggle To Survive Fall From Middle Class
Diedre Melson, John Cox and Pam Thatcher are college-educated parents who once considered themselves part of the middle class. Then the Great Recession hit. A new HBO documentary shows their families desperately trying to make ends meet.
How And Why The Hollywood Star Machine Made 'Gods Like Us'
In a new book about movie stardom and fame, Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr looks at the evolving history of the relationship between movie stars and the people who love them, and at how changing technology influences the kinds of stars the public wants.
For Toms River, An Imperfect Salvation
Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation traces the story of a New Jersey town plagued by two generations of toxic waste dumping. Its author, Dan Fagin, talks about the origins of dumping in Toms River and its legacy today.
Remembering Chinua Achebe And The Importance Of Struggle
To remember Chinua Achebe who died last Thursday, Fresh Air listens back to an interview with the great African writer that originally aired on May 10, 1988. In it, Achebe talks about the literary trope of the white explorer or missionary living amongst the savages, and the importance of struggle.
Potters of the Piedmont Celebrate First Festival at Earthworks Pottery Studios
Join 10 extremely accomplished local commercial pottery artists as the Potters of the Piedmont are holding their first annual pottery festival in April at Earthworks Pottery Studios.
The Movie Chris O'Dowd Has 'Seen A Million Times'
Actor Chris O'Dowd could watch the classic romance Dirty Dancing a million times. "I didn't know what romance was until I saw Dirty Dancing," he says," and nothing has come close since."
'FDR And The Jews' Puts A President's Compromises In Context
President Franklin D. Roosevelt said little and did less on behalf of Jews trying to get out of Nazi Germany; but he also won Jewish votes by landslide margins and led the Allies to victory in World War II. A new history by Richard Breitman and Allan Lichtman revises FDR's performance upward.
'Z' Tells The Fitzgeralds' Story From Zelda's Point Of View
F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald wed in 1920, and the two went on to have a famously turbulent literary marriage. Would Zelda have been better off without her husband? Novelist Therese Anne Fowler says, "They were two sides of one coin."
From One Author To Another, Letters Of Praise
Host Scott Simon reads some of the best fan mail to authors, written by authors.