Fresh Air
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Opening the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics.
Celebrating singer Sarah Vaughan, on what would have been her 100th birthday
by Kevin Whitehead
Born in 1924 in Newark, N.J., Vaughan came up in the '40s, alongside bebop, a new jazz style she instantly took to. In the following decades, she proved to be one of the best singers of any genre.
'Egyptian Jon Stewart' Bassem Youssef Will Now Satirize U.S. Democracy
Bassem Youssef created what became the most popular TV show in Egypt's history, but the government had the show cancelled, and Youssef fled Egypt.
'The Yid' Puts A Brash, Screwball Spin On Soviet Anti-Semitism
by Maureen Corrigan
Paul Goldberg's debut novel is an ambitious historical fantasy about Stalin's 1953 plan to purge Jews from the Soviet Union. Critic Maureen Corrigan says The Yid is a wildly inventive "what if" story.
Who Are America's 'Homegrown Terrorists'?
CNN's Peter Bergen describes how the Internet and social media have been used to radicalize and recruit Americans to jihad — and how some new jihadists then use those same tools to draw in others.
The Riffs And Rhythms That Led To Jazz As We Know It
by Kevin Whitehead
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band's first recording in Feb. 1917 is often cited as the first jazz record ever, but critic Kevin Whitehead says that the roots of jazz stretch a little further back.
Revisiting The Craft And Vision Of 'Graduate' Director Mike Nichols
The late director is the subject of a new PBS American Masters documentary. Another documentary about Nichols will be shown on HBO next month. Nichols spoke to Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 2001.
Carol Burnett: The 'Fresh Air' Interview
The Emmy Award-winning host of The Carol Burnett Show receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild on Saturday. In 2003, Burnett spoke to Fresh Air about life and comedy.
New Release By Numero Revisits Ork Records' Complete Catalog
by Ed Ward
Terry Ork was a mystery man who crashed the Warhol scene and founded his own record label. Rock historian Ed Ward traces the brief, tumultuous existence of Ork Records.