A conversation with R. Crumb, the king of underground comics
Crumb's comics were staples of 1960s counterculture. He's now the subject of a new biography. Crumb spoke to Fresh Air in 2005, and again, with his wife, fellow comic Aline Kominsky Crumb, in 2007.
What a classic '50s Western can teach us about the Hollywood Blacklist
Author Glenn Frankel says the 1952 film High Noon was inspired by the toxic political climate of the time. Originally broadcast Feb. 21, 2017.
Rachel Maddow uncovers a WWII-era plot against America in 'Ultra'
Maddow's podcast uncovers the widespread anti-Semitic, pro-German sympathies active among major religious and political leaders in the U.S. in the lead-up to U.S. entering WWII.
Critic David Bianculli rounds up the best TV moments of 2022
There was a lot of great television this year, but the winning moment came from HBO's special, The Howard Stern Interview: Bruce Springsteen, an extended two-plus hour conversation between two icons.
Remembering Marijane Meaker, a pioneer of lesbian pulp fiction
Meaker wrote Spring Fire in 1952, and was surprised when it sold 1.5 million copies. She went on to write other lesbian-themed books under pen names. She died Nov. 21. Originally broadcast 2003.
Pioneering writer Octavia Butler on writing Black people and women into sci-fi
Butler's 1979 book, Kindred, is now a series for FX on Hulu. In 1993, the pioneering author, who died in 2006, told Fresh Air she made up her own stories so that she could see herself in them.
Woodrow Wilson led the U.S. into WWI. He also waged war on democracy at home
Author Adam Hochschild says Wilson used the first World War as an excuse to spy on Americans, censor the press and plan for the mass deportation of immigrants. His new book is American Midnight.
'Emerald City Nights' revisits jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal in a series from the 1960s
When Jamal's trios visited Penthouse jazz club in Seattle in the '60s, they came to play. Now 92, the pianist has signed off on the release of a new series of live recordings from back in the day.
We listen back to an interview with George Clooney, now a Kennedy Center Honoree
Clooney was among the recipients of the 45th Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday. He appeared on Fresh Air in 2005, after he directed, co-wrote and co-starred in Good Night, and Good Luck.
A documentary shows never-before-seen footage 50 years after Neil Young's 'Harvest'
The scenes in the new documentary Harvest Time show footage taken when Young was making the album Harvest. We listen back to two Fresh Air interviews with Young, from 1992 and 2004.