Government & Politics

Mark Landler of The New York Times discusses Clinton and Obama's contrasting views on America's role in the world. Clinton, Landler says, was often the hawk, more willing to intervene with force.

At the age of 85, Edna O'Brien has just brought out one of her best and most ambitious novels yet. The Little Red Chairs is personal and political; charming and grotesque; a novel of manners and a novel of monsters.

Growing up, comics Nadia Manzoor and Radhika Vaz never dreamed that they would one day co-star in a sketch-comedy series about two immigrant Muslim women in Brooklyn. But Manzoor who grew up in a Pakistani-Muslim community in London, and Vaz who grew up in India now star in the web series Shugs & Fats. The series won a Gotham Award for breakthru short form series.

PR Watch's Lisa Graves says that states can overrule local laws, and that legislatures are increasingly using preemption to stop things like minimum wage increases and protections for LGBT people.

Forget "enhanced interrogation techniques" — Eric Fair says what he did as an interrogator in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was torture.

"The idea that there's interrogation, and then enhanced interrogation, and then torture — there is no middle ground," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "Torture is an enhanced interrogation."

Duke won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Helen Keller in 1962's The Miracle Worker. She died Tuesday at the age of 69. Originally broadcast in 1988.

Author Elaine Kamarck explains superdelegates, the difference between caucuses and primaries, what happens in a brokered convention and how the rules of primaries can sometimes change.

Fred Kaplan, author of Dark Territory, traces the history of cyber defense into the current heated debate between the FBI and Apple over the encryption of the iPhone.

Washington Post reporter Robert O'Harrow dissects Trump's acquisition of the Taj Mahal casino/hotel, which went into bankruptcy a year after it opened.

Veteran foreign correspondent Anne Garrels takes us deep inside Russia, where citizens struggle with a shaky economy and widespread corruption, but seem supportive of their controversial president.

Alex Abramovich was in his 30s when he looked up a guy who had bullied him in grade school. In his new memoir, Abramovich writes about reconnecting with Trevor, now the head of a motorcycle club.

In the first half of the 20th century, American eugenicists used forced sterilization to "breed out" traits they considered undesirable. Adam Cohen tells the story in his new book, Imbeciles.

Tobias Lindholm's Oscar-nominated film tells the story of a Danish commander's error in judgment during the war in Afghanistan. Critic David Edelstein says A War will "leave you in pieces."

New Yorker writer Jill Lepore examines the history of polling in America. She tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that today's polls may be less reliable — and more influential — than ever before.

Silver analyzes polls and predicts election outcomes on his website, FiveThirtyEight. This year's is "maybe the most fascinating nomination race that we've ever seen," he says.

FX resurrects the "trial of the century" in its new season of American Crime Story. Critic John Powers says every single episode "is an embarrassment of tawdry riches."

New Yorker writer Steve Coll says that though Tillerson has conducted billion-dollar international deals as an oil executive, he has no government experience

In 1922, seven states drew up a plan for dividing the waters of the Colorado River. But they overestimated how much water the river could provide — and now 40 million Americans face a water crisis.

Several months ago, the White House contacted the comedian to see if he'd be interested in having the president as his guest. "I just didn't think that it would ever happen," Maron says.

The Seven Good Years spans the time between the birth of his son and the death of his father. Keret says his father, who was a Holocaust survivor, taught him to "look reality straight in the face."