Author Nien Cheng was a wealthy gentlewoman during China's Cultural Revolution. While book critic John Leonard doesn't find Cheng particularly likable, he believes her writing provides a unique and valuable perspective on that history.
The final episodes of Garrison Keillor's much-loved public radio program have been broadcast on the Disney Channel. TV critic David Bianculli says seeing the show on television has its own unique charm.
Tony Bennett's newest album anthologizes several of the singer's recordings with prominent jazz musicians. Critic Francis Davis isn't sure if the music qualifies as jazz, but it's a pleasure nonetheless.
Political cartoonist Doug Marlette draws inspiration from a lifetime in the South, including its fervent religious culture -- which he satirizes in his new book, There's No Business Like Soul Business.
Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews two plays currently in production which reflect contemporary anxieties about sex. While As Is strips sex of pleasure, Les Liaisons Dangereuses revels in "pornotopic" eroticism.
Film director David Lynch has collaborated with Alan Splet on all of his movies. Splet joins Fresh Air to discuss how he helped Lynch create an unsettling atmosphere in movies like Eraserhead and Blue Velvet.
The jazz pianist blends traditional forms with avant-garde harmonies. A favorite of the Fresh Air staff, he was commissioned to write and perform the program's theme song. He is joined by tuba and bass player Ralph Hamperian.
Blues singer and guitarist Homesick James can't remember how he got his moniker. He says it's a misnomer -- though he hails from Chicago, he doesn't call any place home. He performs two songs for Fresh Air.
Released six months ago, Jennifer Warnes' album Famous Blue Raincoat has gone gold, outselling every album by Leonard Cohen, who first wrote and recorded all the songs Warnes sings. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the popularity is deserved.
Michael Crichton gave up a medical career to become a science fiction author and film director. His newest book, Sphere, deals with an alien encounter and a growing fear of computers.
While some reviewers think River's Edge could become the Blue Valentine of 1987, film critic Stephen Schiff says the film suffers from a weak message and poor casting.
Music publicist Derek Taylor was the press agent for the Beatles; he also ghost wrote the memoir of their manager, Brian Epstein. His new book, about 1967 -- when he started working for Apple Records -- is called It Was Twenty Years Ago Today.
The novelist's new nonfiction book is a meditation on the violent, intense sport, which her father exposed her to when she was a child. Despite her interest in boxing, Oates finds it difficult to watch live fights.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg believes that the American disdain for foreign language education is a holdover from our isolationist past -- and a detriment to our culture.
Composer John Harbison recently won the Pulitzer Prizer. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new CD featuring songs inspired by the poet Mirabai.
Vladimir Vojnovič's first novel since his exile from Russia anticipates what communism might look like 60 years in the future. Book critic John Leonard thinks the the story contains some delightful slapstick.
Rock historian Ed Ward looks at how the country music establishment reacted to the burgeoning popularity of rock music in the 1950s and '60s -- sometimes in inept, out-of-touch ways.
