In 1972, Congress launched an experimental program that covered all medical expenses for anyone diagnosed with kidney failure. Investigative journalist Robin Fields shares her findings on the U.S. dialysis experiment -- and the lessons it holds for the future of health care reform.
Dr. Barry Straube, the chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, offers his assessment of the nation's kidney dialysis program -- and what it could mean for the future of universal health care.
Before it was called PTSD, soldiers traumatized in war were described as "shell-shocked" or "battle-fatigued." The new HBO documentary Wartorn, directed by Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Jon Alpert, chronicles the history of PTSD on the American battlefield from the Civil War to the present.
The rate of Army suicides has doubled since 2004. But treating suicidal soldiers is difficult because many don't seek help. Psychologist Craig Bryan, who works with returning vets, discusses the combat stresses that lead to PTSD and suicide -- and what the military is doing to help.
Jerry Bock, the composer of the score for shows like Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and She Loves Me, died Nov. 3. He was 81. Fresh Air remembers the composer with highlights from a 2004 interview conducted with Bock and his writing partner, lyricist Sheldon Harnick.
Nearly 40 years ago, The Rolling Stones decided to film four performances in Ft. Worth and Houston for a theatrical release. The finished film, Ladies and Gentlemen ... The Rolling Stones, has just been released on DVD. Critic Milo Miles reviews the performance.
Two gross-out movies open this weekend. Todd Phillips' buddy comedy Due Date and Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, about a hiker, played by James Franco, who has to chop off his own arm after he's pinned under a boulder. David Edelstein says the two films are "relentlessly in your face."
Taylor Swift turns 21 in December, and she'll still be one of the youngest country singer-songwriters to have achieved massive success. Her songs operate as both faux-confessionals and universal anthems. Her new album, Speak Now, is already a best-seller.
As a crusading attorney general, Eliot Spitzer made powerful enemies -- before a sex scandal ended his political career. Filmmaker Alex Gibney explores the many adversaries Spitzer made on Wall Street in Client 9, a new documentary about the former governor's downfall.
Howard's new record, Drum Lore, was inspired by a question a workshop student once asked him: Why are you teaching a composition class when you're a drummer? So Howard devotes the new album to tunes written by jazz percussionists.
Vanity Fair political writer Todd Purdum walks us through what the new Republican House majority means for Congress and the White House -- and explores why presumptive House Speaker John Boehner might have an even tougher fight ahead.
The Beatles' Apple Records put out the Fab Four's own singles and albums, as well as music by other performers the individual Beatles liked. Critic Ed Ward takes a look behind the scenes at Apple Records, and at the full albums the label released.
Michael Caine has been acting on stage and screen for more than 50 years. He shares some of his favorite memories, including the advice John Wayne gave him during his first week in Hollywood, in his memoir, The Elephant to Hollywood.
Dinaw Mengestu's How to Read the Air is an unsentimental meditation on the immigrant experience and the illusory idea of asylum. With lyrical prose, he reassesses the by-your-bootstraps mythology associated with American mobility.
In the past few weeks, two films have explored the careers of men who have found a place in the pantheon of popular mythology. Critic John Powers says seeing Carlos and The Social Network side by side made him think about how much social values have changed in recent decades.
In HBO's In Treatment, Gabriel Byrne stars as a psychotherapist who is working through some serious issues of his own. Executive producers and writers Anya Epstein and Dan Futterman discuss the show's third season.
The third installment of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy focuses once again on the corruption-fighting duo of journalist Mikael Blomkvist and cyber-avenger Lisbeth Salander. But as critic David Edelstein notes, an epic devotion to detail makes the movie seem like "an interminable footnote." (Note: Spoilers galore.)
On Halloween, a new show about a sudden infestation of zombies premieres on AMC. TV critic David Bianculli says the spooky series works because it's "beautiful and foreboding all at once."
The musical-theater titan tells the stories behind some of his most famous work, from West Side Story to Gypsy. And he offers some surprising criticisms of other theater greats, including his mentor Oscar Hammerstein.
After the housing bust, banks hired many people to handle foreclosure paperwork -- and many mistakes were made. New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson explains what the paperwork mess means for the banking industry and the economy.
