In January, DuVernay became the first African-American woman to win Sundance's best directing award for her second feature-length film, Middle of Nowhere. It's about a young woman who puts her life and dreams of going to medical school on hold while her husband is in prison.
Six feet tall, weighing in at 400 pounds and in his 40s when stardom hit him, Big Joe Turner is behind a load of rock 'n' roll hits. His hardest-hitting singles have been collected on a new compilation, titled Big Joe Turner Rocks.
Writer Mark O'Brien spent most of his life in an iron lung. He was the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary, and now his story is told again in the semi-fictionalized feature The Sessions. Critic David Edelstein reviews the story of how one man lost his virginity — and found out how to love.
In Master of the Mountain, historian Henry Wiencek uses an explosive interpretation of evidence to show how, by the 1780s, Founding Father and slave owner Thomas Jefferson had gone from championing equality to rationalizing an abomination.
In her book Alone Together, psychologist Sherry Turkle explains how digital devices are affecting our communication and relationships. "What is so seductive about texting, about keeping that phone on, about that little red light on the BlackBerry, is you want to know who wants you," Turkle says.
Musician Michael Feinstein chronicles his experience working as an archivist and cataloger for legendary songwriter Ira Gershwin. The book is presented through the stories of 12 of the Gershwin brothers' songs, including "Fascinating Rhythm," "The Man I Love" and "I Got Rhythm."
America's Test Kitchen experts Jack Bishop and Bridget Lancaster join Fresh Air to explain what makes a great marinade — and why you might want to add an anchovy or two to your next beef stew.
Among the most central pieces of the classical-music repertoire are the 16 string quartets Beethoven composed over the course of his career. For critic Lloyd Schwartz, these quartets, especially as recorded by the Budapest String Quartet, were crucial to his own musical upbringing.
Best known for being the man behind Madea, Perry is now starring in the action thriller Alex Cross. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that his Madea character is a cross between his mom, his aunt and Eddie Murphy.
Ben Affleck's Argo, which is based on the declassified story of the CIA's mission to save six American diplomats trapped in Iran in 1979, is gripping, compelling and, at times, hilarious. But, as critic David Edelstein explains, the best parts of the "true" story are the parts that aren't true at all.
In A.M. Homes' suburbia, yawning sinkholes will suddenly open up in front lawns, swallowing cliched plotlines and opening portals to other dimensions. In her latest novel, she serves up an old-fashioned American story that's more Norman Bates than Norman Rockwell.
New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg says that consumers and innovation are the big losers in the patent wars. "Patents have become a toll gate on the road of innovation," he says.
Statistical analyst Nate Silver says humility is key to making accurate predictions. Silver, who writes the New York Times' FiveThirtyEight blog, has just written a new book called The Signal and the Noise.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg has been puzzling over President Obama's performance in the presidential debate last week. Looking at who the candidates were addressing their answers to shows that Romney was doing something unusual, he says.
Counselor Judith Schwarz says that for terminally ill patients who are suffering, prolonging death can seem like a worse fate than death itself. Schwarz is a patient supporter with the nonprofit organization Compassion & Choices
Tig Notaro walked onstage hours after finding out she was diagnosed with cancer, and talked about it in a standup comedy set that Louis C.K. described in a tweet as masterful. Notaro talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the set, titled Tig Notaro: Live.
