Growing up, actor Octavia Spencer remembers being inspired by the story of Madam C.J. Walker, one of America's first black, female, self-made millionaires. Born on a plantation in 1867, Walker eked out a living washing clothes for white families before building an empire selling hair care and makeup products to women of color.
Film critic Justin Chang reviews the new film by writer-director Eliza Hittman who made the acclaimed coming-of-age dramas 'It Felt Like Love,' and 'Beach Rats.'
Politico reporter Dan Diamond says infighting at the Department of Health and Human Services and the need to flatter Trump impeded the response to the coronavirus.
Lily King's new novel centers on a woman who's spent six years working on her own novel. It's a story of ambition — and what happens when the markers of adult achievement are slow to materialize.
New York Times reporter Ben Hubbard says Saudi Arabia's leader is full of contradictions: He ended a ban on women driving, but his agents also carried out the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Tyner, who died on March 6, placed thundering piano chords under fast, right-hand melodies. He led his own groups for decades, but was frequently associated with one early employer, John Coltrane.
RuPaul is the most successful drag queen of all time. His reality competition series for drag queens, RuPaul's Drag Race, is now in its 12th season. He'll talk about how he began his career, broke thru to wider audiences, and how he uses drag to challenge preconceived notions of gender and identity.
Singer-songwriter-guitarist Bethany Cosentino opens up about sobriety on a propulsive new album with musical partner Bobb Bruno. Almost Tomorrow is Best Coast's first record in five years.
James McBride is best known for his memoir, The Color of Water, about being the son of an African American father and a white mother. His new novel, Deacon King Kong, takes place in 1969, in a Brooklyn housing project, similar to the one he grew up in., and involves the wide consequences of a shooting.
Hulu's new 8-part miniseries Devs is a definite must-see, while the Disney TV+ show Amazing Stories, based on the 1985 NBC anthology series by Steven Spielberg, is more of a wait-and-see.
This captivating underdog film centers on two strangers who meet in the Oregon Territory circa 1820 and start their own baking business — which requires stealing milk from the territory's first cow.
Greg Miller of The Washington Post reveals the hidden history of Crypto AG, a Swiss firm that sold encryption technology to 120 countries — but was secretly owned by the CIA for decades.
Bacurau is a funny, violent, unexpectedly moving Brazilian movie that won the Jury Prize at Cannes last spring. Written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, Bacurau is a genre-busting entertainment that is at once a portrait of a community, a horror thriller and a timely piece of political filmmaking.
Erdrich's new novel, The Night Watchman, was inspired by her grandfather, who chaired the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and fought a Congressional initiative to move native people off their land.
Writer's block can be temporary — or it can be massive and long lasting. After her third short story collection, Honey, came out in 1993, Elizabeth Tallent fell victim to a rockfall, avalanche, total-impasse-of-the-imagination writer's block and didn't publish another book for 22 years.
In 2014, wilderness explorer Roman Dial experienced every parent's nightmare when he learned that his son, then 27, was missing in a remote Central American rainforest, thousands of miles away.
Though Pelt can certainly play uptempo with a lot of fire, he also loves to play ballads, including a batch of obscure ones. A new album showcases his more introspective side.
Four and a half million Americans are on probation or parole — more than twice the nation's jail population. Parolees and probationers are required to check in regularly with officials, who are charged with helping them rebuild their lives.
Axios reporter Jonathan Swan says the president has "crossed a psychological line" since impeachment, developing a list of disloyal officials to oust — and suggesting loyalists to replace them.
