Fresh Air
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Opening the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics.
This collection may be the closest we'll ever come to a Dickinson autobiography
by Maureen Corrigan
The Letters of Emily Dickinson collects 1,304 letters, starting with one she wrote at age 11. Her singular voice comes into its own in the letters of the 1860s, which often blur into poems.
Will The Mueller Investigation Unearth A Crime? Legal Reporter Says It's Complicated
"There is not going to be a neat ending," New Yorker writer Jeffrey Toobin says of the investigation into Russian meddling. A central issue is whether a sitting president can be criminally indicted.
Director Guillermo Del Toro Says 'Shape Of Water' Centers On 'Love Beyond Words'
by Sam Briger
"I wanted to make a completely honest, heart-on-sleeve, non-ironic melodrama," del Toro says. Set in 1962, his new film features a fairy tale romance between a creature and a mute woman.
'Cartoon County' Looks Back At The Golden Age Of Sunday Comics
Vanity Fair editor-at-large Cullen Murphy grew up the son of a cartoonist. His father, John Cullen Murphy, drew the popular Prince Valiant strip, which Murphy eventually wrote for 14 years.
'Nuclear War Planner' Reflects On The Cold War And Assesses The Current Threat
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press in hopes they would help end the Vietnam War. He looks back on his early days as a national security analyst in The Doomsday Machine.
Delusions Of Grandeur Take Center Stage In James Franco's 'Disaster Artist'
by David Edelstein
Critic David Edlestein says Franco sends audiences into hysterics as the director and star of a new biopic about Tommy Wiseau, an oddball filmmaker with vision and drive — but very little talent.
LGBTQ Activist Cleve Jones: 'I'm Well Aware How Fragile Life Is'
Jones lost countless friends to the AIDS epidemic. He became an activist after Harvey Milk's assassination: "Meeting Harvey, seeing his death, it fixed my course." Originally broadcast Nov. 29, 2016.
Newly Reissued 'Astaire Story' Suffers From A Couple Of Missteps
by Kevin Whitehead
In 1952, record producer Norman Granz brought six jazz stars into the studio to back a singer from outside their circle: Hollywood song and dance man Fred Astaire.