Fresh Air
Weekdays at 7:00pm
Opening the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics.
'Women Behind the Wheel' explains how cars became a gendered technology
by Terry Gross
Author Nancy Nichols says that for men, cars signify adventure, power and strength. For women, they are about performing domestic duties; there was even a minivan prototype with a washer/dryer inside.
Guitar Prodigy Julian Lage Finds His Sweet Spot With 'Arclight'
by Kevin Whitehead
Lage mixes jazz, blues and swing on his new trio album with Scott Colley and Kenny Wollesen. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says that Lage really hits his stride in Arclight.
'Gateway To Freedom': Heroes, Danger And Loss On The Underground Railroad
Historian Eric Foner recently won the American History Book Prize from the New York Historical Society for Gateway to Freedom, about the underground railroad. Originally broadcast Jan. 15, 2015.
Fresh Air Remembers Country Music Legend Merle Haggard
"I was, to say the least, probably the most incorrigible child you can think of," Haggard told Fresh Air in 1995. The country icon died Wednesday morning in California. It was his 79th birthday.
A Family Drama Unfolds Through Shifting Viewpoints In 'Louder Than Bombs'
by David Edelstein
Point-of-view is passed like a baton among the tortured main characters in Joachim Trier's new film. Critic David Edelstein says Louder than Bombs is intimate, touching and "insistently alive."
Robbie Fulks Sings His Way Home In 'Upland Stories'
by Ken Tucker
The raucous singer turns thoughtful on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker calls Upland Stories a "marvelous mongrel mixture" of bluegrass banjo-picking, honky-tonk pedal steel and stark folk phrasings.
From Fracking Bans To Paid Sick Leave: How States Are Overruling Local Laws
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.
Laid-Off Tech Journalist Joins A Start-Up, Finds It's Part Frat, Part Cult
Dan Lyons was in his 50s when he lost his job reporting on the tech industry. He took a job at a start-up, where he was the old guy. His new book is Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble.