Fresh Air on The News And Ideas Network

Weekdays, 1pm - 2pm; Saturdays, 4pm - 5pm
Hosted By: Terry Gross

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. The show is well known for Terry's interesting and intimate conversations with a wide variety of guests.

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Television
11:03 am
Wed January 23, 2013

Jimmy Kimmel: Making Late Night A Family Affair

Credit Randy Holmes / ABC
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel interviews Mel Brooks on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Originally published on Thu January 24, 2013 1:25 pm

This month, Jimmy Kimmel's late-night ABC talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, joins the 11:35 p.m. nightly lineup — which puts him in direct competition with two reining comedy kings: Jay Leno and Kimmel's idol, David Letterman.

Kimmel, who paid tribute to Letterman at the Kennedy Center Honors in December, didn't break the news to Letterman himself.

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Around the Nation
1:28 pm
Tue January 22, 2013

'We Have No Choice': A Story Of The Texas Sonogram Law

Credit iStockPhoto

Originally published on Wed January 23, 2013 9:19 am

Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. But in some states, access to facilities that perform abortions remains limited.

In part, that stems from another Supreme Court ruling from 20 years ago that let states impose regulations that don't cause an "undue burden" on a woman's abortion rights.

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Around the Nation
1:26 pm
Tue January 22, 2013

Involved For Life: Pregnancy Centers In Texas

Credit Courtesy of Carolyn Cline
Carolyn Cline is the president and CEO of Involved for Life.

Originally published on Tue January 22, 2013 4:12 pm

While the number of abortion providers has been decreasing, the number of pregnancy centers has been increasing. According to The New York Times, there are now approximately 1,800 abortion providers around the country, compared with 2,500 pregnancy centers. These centers, largely run by Christian groups, discourage women from getting abortions and offer help during their unplanned pregnancies.

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Television
1:46 pm
Mon January 21, 2013

Kevin Bacon, Seeking A TV 'Following'

Credit Fox
Jeannane Goossen and Kevin Bacon star as FBI special agents tracing a network of serial killers in Fox's new crime drama The Following.

In the new Fox TV series The Following, Kevin Bacon plays a former FBI agent asked to help apprehend an escaped serial killer he once put behind bars. The show is from Kevin Williamson, who also created the Scream horror-movie franchise.

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Author Interviews
1:19 pm
Mon January 21, 2013

'Double V': The Fight For Civil Rights In The U.S. Military

In his new book, The Double V: How Wars, Protest and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military, author Rawn James Jr. argues that if one wants to understand the story of race in the United States, one must understand the history of African-Americans in the country's military. Since the country was founded, he tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies, the military "has continually been forced to confront what it means to segregate individuals according to race."

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Fresh Air Weekend
9:03 am
Sat January 19, 2013

Fresh Air Weekend: Ben Affleck And Dustin Hoffman

Credit Keith Bernstein / Warner Brothers
Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo. Affleck also directed the film, which is based on events surrounding the Iran hostage crisis of 1979.

Originally published on Sat January 19, 2013 11:59 am

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

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Movies
11:51 am
Fri January 18, 2013

'Mama': A Good Old-Fashioned Horror Movie

Originally published on Tue January 22, 2013 1:29 pm

I was weaned on horror movies and love them inordinately, but the genre has gone to the dogs — and to the muscle-bound werewolves, hormonal vampires, flesh-eating zombies, machete-wielding psychos, etc. It's also depressing how most modern horror pictures have unhappy nihilist endings in which everyone dies and the demons pop back up, unvanquished — partly because studios think happy endings are too soft, but mostly because they need their monsters for so-called franchises.

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Author Interviews
10:49 am
Fri January 18, 2013

The Inquisition: A Model For Modern Interrogators

Originally published on Mon January 28, 2013 1:41 pm

This interview was originally broadcast on Jan. 23, 2012.

The individuals who participated in the first Inquisition 800 years ago kept detailed records of their activities. Vast archival collections at the Vatican, in France and in Spain contain accounts of torture victims' cries, descriptions of funeral pyres and even meticulous financial records about the price of torture equipment.

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Book Reviews
1:05 pm
Thu January 17, 2013

How A 'Madwoman' Upended A Literary Boys Club

Credit

This week, the National Book Critics Circle announced that two feminist literary scholars, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, would be the recipients of its 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Around the Nation
1:00 pm
Thu January 17, 2013

'Grayest Generation': Older Parenthood In The U.S.

Originally published on Thu January 17, 2013 1:47 pm

In a December article for The New Republic, "The Grayest Generation: How Older Parenthood Will Upend American Society," the magazine's science editor Judith Shulevitz points out how the growing trend toward later parenthood since 1970 coincides with a rise in neurocognitive and developmental disorders among children.

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Movie Interviews
10:53 am
Wed January 16, 2013

'Quartet': Dustin Hoffman, Behind The Camera

Credit Kerry Brown / The Weinstein Company
Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut with the film Quartet. He has starred in such classics as The Graduate, Kramer vs. Kramer and Tootsie.

Originally published on Thu January 17, 2013 3:08 pm

In December, the actor Dustin Hoffman sat in a box seat at the Kennedy Center as his old friend, Robert De Niro, saluted him at a celebration marking one of the highest accolades for an artist in the United States: a Kennedy Center Honor.

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Book Reviews
1:15 pm
Tue January 15, 2013

George Saunders Lives Up To The Hype

Credit Basso Cannarsa / Courtesy Random House
George Saunders' previous books include In Persuasion Nation and The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip. He won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006.

I was baffled by the cover of The New York Times Magazine two Sundays ago. You may remember that the headline of the cover story was: "George Saunders Has Written The Best Book You'll Read This Year." I was baffled because the only George Saunders I could think of was that old movie star who was always playing cads in films like Rebecca and All About Eve.

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Movie Interviews
10:22 am
Tue January 15, 2013

Affleck On 'Argo' And The 1979 Hostage Crisis

Credit Keith Bernstein / Warner Brothers
Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo. Affleck also directed the film, which is based on events surrounding the Iran hostage crisis of 1979.

Originally published on Tue January 15, 2013 1:11 pm

At Sunday's Golden Globes, Ben Affleck looked genuinely surprised and delighted twice toward the end of the evening: first when he won best director for Argo, and then again when the film won for best motion picture/drama.

The film, which Affleck produced and in which he also stars, is the mostly true story of the CIA operative who helmed the rescue of six U.S. diplomats who managed to escape at the outset of the 1979 Iran crisis that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days after militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran.

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Author Interviews
1:16 pm
Mon January 14, 2013

Retired Bishop Gene Robinson On Being Gay And Loving God

Credit BProud Photography / Knopf
Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, has retired. He'll start working with the Center for American Progress, a progressive research and policy organization, on issues of faith and gay rights.

Originally published on Mon January 14, 2013 2:25 pm

For many years, it didn't occur to Bishop Gene Robinson — the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church — that he might retire before age 72, the mandatory retirement age for Episcopal bishops. But then, in 2010, Mary Glasspool, who is also openly gay, was elected bishop suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles and, for the first time, Robinson reconsidered his retirement plans.

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Commentary
11:47 am
Mon January 14, 2013

'The Whole Nine Yards' Of What?

Credit iStockPhoto
There are those who say the phrase "the whole nine yards" comes from a joke about a prodigiously well-endowed Scotsman who gets his kilt caught in a door.

Originally published on Mon January 14, 2013 2:25 pm

Where does the phrase "the whole nine yards" come from? In 1982, William Safire called that "one of the great etymological mysteries of our time."

He thought the phrase originally referred to the capacity of a cement truck in cubic yards. But there are plenty of other theories.

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Fresh Air Weekend
9:03 am
Sat January 12, 2013

Fresh Air Weekend: Civil War, 'Downton' And 'Girls'

Credit Jessica Miglio / HBO
Lena Dunham's series Girls, which follows the lives of a group of young women in New York City, returns to HBO this month.

Originally published on Sat January 12, 2013 11:43 am

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors, and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

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Music Reviews
1:19 pm
Fri January 11, 2013

Grant Green: The 'Holy Barbarian' Of St. Louis Jazz

Credit Courtesy of the artist
Grant Green.

Originally published on Mon January 14, 2013 8:14 am

Grant Green, The Holy Barbarian, St. Louis, 1959 could be the name of a fine stage play, perhaps based on the actual circumstances of the recording. One musician on the way up, another past his moment in the limelight and one more who had his chance but never quite made it all convene on Christmas night, part of their week-long stand at the Holy Barbarian, a beatnik hangout replete with chess players and a local artist painting portraits.

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Television
11:40 am
Fri January 11, 2013

Lena Dunham Addresses Criticism Aimed At 'Girls'

Credit HBO
Girls has been compared to Sex and the City. The characters, played by (from left) Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Lena Dunham and Zosia Mamet, navigate the ups and downs of life in New York City.

Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 3:25 pm

This interview was originally broadcast on May 7, 2012.

Lena Dunham was just 23 years old when her second feature film, Tiny Furniture, won the best narrative feature prize at the South by Southwest Film Festival. The movie's success led to Dunham striking a deal with HBO for a comedy series about a group of 20-something girls navigating New York City.

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Television
8:33 am
Fri January 11, 2013

Season Two Brings Changes For 'Girls'

Credit Jessica Miglio / HBO
Lena Dunham's series Girls, which follows the lives of a group of young women in New York City, returns to HBO this month.

Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 3:25 pm

Of all the cable comedies returning with new episodes Sunday, Girls is the most ambitious — as well as the most unpredictable, and occasionally unsettling.

When thirtysomething premiered on ABC more than 25 years ago — yes, it's been that long — that drama series was both embraced and attacked for focusing so intently on the problems of self-obsessed people in their 30s. What that drama did for that generation, Girls does for a new one — and for an even younger demographic, by presenting a quartet of young women in their mid-20s.

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Author Interviews
5:01 pm
Thu January 10, 2013

In 'Sliver Of Sky,' Barry Lopez Confronts Childhood Sexual Abuse

Credit David Liittschwager / Barry Lopez
Barry Lopez

Originally published on Thu January 10, 2013 9:03 pm

Barry Lopez is known for writing about the natural world. His books include Arctic Dreams and Of Wolves and Men, where he explores the relationship between the physical landscape and human culture. But in a new essay in the January issue of Harper's Magazine, Lopez writes that he was sexually molested by a family friend when he was a boy, and says the man was never brought to justice.

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