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Reviewing John Legend

John Lennon's life and legacy are revisited in a new film and biography. Rock critic Ken Tucker says Albert Goldman's book The Lives of John Lennon is an inelegant hatchet job that portrays the musician in a harsh light; the film Imagine, on the other hand, is little more than treacly hagiography.

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Other segments from the episode on October 20, 1988

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, October 20, 1988: Interview with William Shawcross; Review of Albert Goldman's book "The Lives of John Lennon" and the film "Imagine"; Interview with Noel Hynd; Review of…
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27:45

The Fall of a 20th Century King

Writer William Shawcross's new book profiles the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown during the Iranian revolution. Despite his despotic rule -- including the brutal deployment of the SAVAK secret police -- the Shah advanced some reforms in education and women's rights. He was an ally to the United States; who provided the Iranian state with money for weapons.

Interview

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Lennon and the F.B.I.

Historian Jon Wiener spent 14 years fighting to gain access to the FBI’s secret files on former Beatle John Lennon. Wiener’s Freedom of Information case went all the way to the Supreme Court before the FBI decided to settle. His new book “Gimme Some Truth” (University of California Press) outlines and reproduces the most important pages of the file, revealing that the Nixon administration plotted to deport Lennon in 1972 and silence him as a voice of the anti-war movement.

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John Lennon's Early Influences

On the occasion of what would have been the Beatle's 50th birthday, rock historian Ed Ward considers what bands and song may have influenced Lennon before he started his legendary group with Paul McCartney.

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