Arts & Life

Edie Falco plays ER nurse Jackie Peyton, who is competent at her high-stress job but struggles with addiction. The sixth season of Nurse Jackie starts Sunday on Showtime.

Arts

Edie Falco On Sobriety, The Sopranos, And Nurse Jackie's Self-Medication

5:03pm April 09, 2014

Falco plays ER nurse Jackie Peyton, who is competent at her high-stress job but struggles with addiction. The sixth season of Nurse Jackie begins Sunday on Showtime.

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Family dramas have always been one of television's most difficult genres to do properly, without getting too sweet, too overwrought, or too predictable — but NBC's Parenthood finds the right balance. Above, Ray Romano as Hank, Mae Whitman as Amber, and

Arts

'Parenthood' Is Hard, But NBC Gets This Family Drama Right

4:41pm April 08, 2014

by David Bianculli

Critic David Bianculli says family dramas have always been one of television's most difficult genres to do properly — without getting too sweet, too overwrought, or too predictable.

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In her memoir Living With a Wild God, Barbara Ehrenreich describes the mystical visions she had as a teenager.

A Nonbeliever Tries To Make Sense Of The Visions She Had As A Teen

2:35pm April 08, 2014

Barbara Ehrenreich — a rationalist, atheist and scientist by training — has written a new memoir called Living With a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything.

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"If Jesus had not been declared God by his followers, his followers would've remained a sect within Judaism, a small Jewish sect," says historian Bart Ehrman.

If Jesus Never Called Himself God, How Did He Become One?

6:26am April 08, 2014

In How Jesus Became God, Bart Ehrman explores how a Jewish preacher from Galilee was transformed into a deity. "Jesus himself didn't call himself God and didn't consider himself God," Ehrman says.

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Arts

Mickey Rooney, All-American Boy For More Than 90 Years, Dies

7:29pm April 07, 2014

by Bob Mondello

Bob Mondello offers an appreciation of the career of Mickey Rooney, who died at 93.

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Books
Arts

Peter Matthiessen On Writing And Zen Buddhism

2:57pm April 07, 2014

Fresh Air listens back to our 1989 interview with Snow Leopard author and Paris Review co-founder Peter Matthiessen, who died Saturday at age 86. His new novel In Paradise comes out Tuesday.

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In his six-decade career, Peter Matthiessen has written 33 books, including The Snow Leopard and Shadow Country.

Books
Arts

'In Paradise,' Matthiessen Considers Our Capacity For Cruelty

1:43pm April 07, 2014

by Tom Vitale

At 86, Matthiessen has written what he says "may be his last word." In Paradise, a novel about a visit to a Nazi extermination camp, caps a career spanning six decades and 33 books.

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Books
Arts

In Book's Trial Of U.S. Justice System, Wealth Gap Is Exhibit A

6:56pm April 06, 2014

by NPR Staff

Journalist Matt Taibbi investigates the differences between punishment for white-collar and blue-collar crimes in The Divide. He also questions beliefs about who is "appropriate for jail."

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Arts

Your Tour Guide To The Glut Of Sunday TV

6:18pm April 04, 2014

by Eric Deggans

Is it possible there's too much good TV? Sunday nights are starting to look that way. Between Game of Thrones, Mad Men and many more, there's a lot to navigate. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans helps.

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Arts

Dave Letterman Signals He'll Soon Put Down The Microphone

7:35pm April 03, 2014

by Eric Deggans

NPR television correspondent Eric Deggans reports that David Letterman will announce his planned retirement from CBS on his show Thursday night. Letterman will leave the show and the network in 2015.

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