History

Paul Wong (Harry Shum, Jr.) leads the Green Dragons, a young, Asian-American gang that trafficked Chinese immigrants into the U.S. with help from the so-called "Snakehead Mama" (Eugenia Yuan).

Arts

A Tale Of Asian Gangs Unleashed In 'Green Dragons' Film

5:40pm November 30, 2014

by Hansi Lo Wang

The film Revenge of the Green Dragons is based on the true story of a Chinese-American gang in New York City that helped traffic unauthorized immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s.

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A young Joe DiMaggio was a hitter for hire, playing with whatever local ball club could pay him. Then his semi-pro successes brought him to the San Francisco Seals, and from there to the major leagues — and the rest is history.

Sports

Happy Birthday To Joltin' Joe — Who Didn't Even Like Baseball

12:29pm November 30, 2014

by Sean Braswell

Joe DiMaggio, who was born 100 years ago this week, played baseball because he needed money — not because he loved the game. After years of stunning success, though, he came to need the sport.

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as British mathematician and scientist Alan Turing in The Imitation Game; Charles Dance plays Commander Denniston. Director Morten Tyldum says the movie is set up like a mystery — "like a puzzle you're piecing together."

Arts

In 'Imitation Game,' An Outsider Takes Center Stage

6:29pm November 29, 2014

by NPR Staff

Director Morten Tyldum says he wanted the film, about World War II code breaker Alan Turing, to show "how important it is to actually celebrate those who are different than us instead of fear them."

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Published in London around 1795, this "copy" of a letter from Jesus in heaven was the imagined correspondence between Jesus and King Abgar of Edessa.

Jesus Started A Chain Letter — And Other Hoaxes

2:26pm November 29, 2014

by NPR Staff

After Jesus died, he supposedly wrote a letter to Earth. A copy of that letter is now on display, along with other historic fakes and forgeries including a famous — and bogus — anti-Semitic tract.

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Free-range chickens stand in a pen at an organic-accredited poultry farm in Germany.

Books
Arts

Chicken Confidential: How This Bird Came To Rule The Cultural Roost

12:05pm November 29, 2014

by NPR Staff

Andrew Lawler's Why Did the Chicken Cross the World? explores the secret to the domesticated bird's success: "You can turn the chicken into almost anything," he says, from religious symbol to dinner.

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Justin Hopkins sings during a tribute show for Booker Wright, who worked in a whites-only restaurant in the Mississippi Delta.

A Musical Tribute For A Waiter Who Spoke Out Against Racism

12:05pm November 29, 2014

by Debbie Elliott

Fifty years after the desegregation of the South, an oratorio will pay tribute to an unlikely civil rights activist — a waiter named Booker Wright who spoke out about discrimination on the job.

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Two men wrestle in a ring full of smelt during the Smelt Carnival in Marinette, Wis., in 1939.

National

Wacky Wrestlers Of Yesteryear

4:37am November 28, 2014

by Linton Weeks

In America, there's a fine line between gimmicky wrestling and performance art.

Music & Culture

Mendelssohn And Other Classic Composers Offer Musical Thanks

3:50pm November 27, 2014

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Renee Montagne talks to music commentator Miles Hoffman about musical "thank yous." Hoffman is the violist of the American Chamber Players.

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National

The Native American Side Of The Thanksgiving Menu

12:37pm November 26, 2014

by NPR Staff

The first Thanksgiving was something of a joint venture between pilgrims and Native Americans. Chef Richard Hetzler shares a menu that celebrates the first settlers and the country's first tribes.

Arts

Nazi-Era Art Cache Brings Provenance Issues To Swiss Museum

10:15am November 25, 2014

Audie Cornish talks to Jonathan Petropolous, professor of European History at Claremont McKenna College, about the acceptance of Nazi-era art by the Museum of Fine Arts Bern in Switzerland.

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