Fresh Air

Fresh Air

Fresh Air from WHYY, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio's most popular programs. Hosted by Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, the show features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries. Subscribe to Fresh Air Plus! You'll enjoy bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening - all while you support NPR's mission. Learn more at plus.npr.org/freshair And subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Fresh Air Weekly, to get interview highlights, staff recommendations, gems from the archive, and the week's interviews and reviews all in one place. Sign up at www.whyy.org/freshair

Episodes

How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America

April 29, 2025 • 44 mins
Journalist David Graham says the aim of the creators of the conservative action plan Project 2025 aim is to push the federal government "as far to the right as they can." His new book is The Project.

Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews a new PBS documentary about libraries.

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How Trauma Shapes Us

April 28, 2025 • 45 mins
Daria Burke spent several years digging into the science of how our brains and bodies carry the imprint of early experiences. She wanted to understand the trauma she lived through growing up in 1980s Detroit with a mother who battled addiction. She suffered years of neglect before finding stability through school and rising in the corporate world. In her new memoir, Of My Own Making, she writes about the limits of success, how she ...
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Best Of: 'The Pitt' Star Noah Wyle / 'Sinners' Director Ryan Coogler

April 26, 2025 • 48 mins
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ryan Coogler's movies include both Black Panther films and Creed. His latest fillm, Sinners, is a vampire thriller about twins, both played by Michael B. Jordan, opening a juke joint in 1930s Mississippi. The film explores race, faith, and American history through the lens of horror.

Also, Noah Wyle talks about his starring role in the MAX series The Pitt, about life at a Pittsburgh hospital emer...
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Merle Haggard On Hopping Trains And Doing Time

April 25, 2025 • 45 mins
Before he became a musician, Merle Haggard lived the kind of life that's often mythologized in song: Hopping freights and doing prison time. When he became a star, he acquired his own observation car. Now that coach is part of the Virginia Scenic Railway. Terry Gross spoke with Haggard in 1995.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews two albums: one's a collection of recordings by Paul Robeson, and the other feature...
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Are Kids With ADHD Being Treated Effectively?

April 24, 2025 • 45 mins
ADHD has been considered a medical disorder, treatable with drugs like Ritalin, but New York Times Magazine writer Paul Tough says recent studies question that assumption and treatment options.

Also, Martin Johnson reviews a new tribute to Anthony Braxton, who Johnson says is one of the most polarizing figures in jazz.

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Ryan Coogler Paid A Steep Price For The Films He Made

April 23, 2025 • 43 mins
The director of Black Panther and Creed talks about his new genre-bending vampire movie that takes place in the Jim Crow South. It's called Sinners and it stars Michael B. Jordan as twins working a juke joint in Mississippi. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about blues music, the supernatural, and why he wanted to own the movie outright after 25 years.

Also, book critic Carolina Miranda reviews The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami.<...
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America's Path To 'Competitive Authoritarianism'

April 22, 2025 • 45 mins
Harvard professor of government Steven Levitsky studies how healthy democracies can slip into authoritarianism. He says the Trump administration has already done grave damage: "We are no longer living in a democratic regime."

David Bianculli reviews season 2 of Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal.

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Noah Wyle Is At Home In 'The Pitt'

April 21, 2025 • 45 mins
After 11 seasons on ER, Noah Wyle thought he was finished with medical dramas: "I spent 15 years avoiding — actively avoiding — walking down what I thought was either hallowed ground or traveled road." But then COVID happened, and he felt compelled to tell more of these stories. He spoke with Dave Davies about the making of The Pitt, the medical jargon, and his mom's feedback on the show.

Also, book critic Maureen Corriga...
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Best Of: Richard Kind / Melinda French Gates

April 19, 2025 • 48 mins
You've seen Richard Kind on countless TV shows and films during his 40-year career — Only Murders in the Building, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Spin City, and A Serious Man, just to name a few. He's now the announcer and sidekick on Everybody's Live with John Mulaney. He spoke with Terry Gross about the new gig and why he's glad he's not that famous.

Melinda French Gates also joins us to talk about her new book, The Next Day, wh...
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A Love Story At The Center Of The Civil Rights Movement

April 18, 2025 • 45 mins
MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid tells the story of Medgar Evers and his wife Myrlie. Medgar was the NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, a state that lynched more Black people than any other. The risks of the job created a lot of tension in their marriage — and after Medgar's 1963 assassination, Myrlie's fury drove her to be an activist herself.

And film critic Justin Chang reviews Sinners, the new supernatural thriller by direct...
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Starvation In American Jail Cells

April 17, 2025 • 44 mins
New Yorker staff writer Sarah Stillman says she's discovered dozens of cases where people in county jails across the U.S. have died of starvation, dehydration, or related medical crises. Many were people with mental health issues arrested for minor crimes who languished behind bars without treatment, unable to make bail.

Also, we remember renowned jazz critic and Terry Gross' husband, Francis Davis.

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The Real-Life Russian Spies Who Inspired 'The Americans'

April 16, 2025 • 45 mins
In The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and Their Century-Long Mission to Infiltrate the West, journalist Shaun Walker shares how agents were trained to blend into a target country and posed as citizens. Walker tells the story of Andrei Olegovich Bezrukov, aka "Donald," and Elena Vavilova, aka "Tracey," who were embedded in Cambridge, Mass. until a 2010 FBI raid. Even their two children didn't know their parents' true identi...
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Melinda French Gates On Giving Away Her 'Absurd' Wealth

April 15, 2025 • 45 mins
In a new memoir, billionaire Melinda French Gates writes about the end of her marriage to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and her ongoing philanthropic work, directing funds and attention to women's health initiatives. Her book is The Next Day.

Also, David Bianculli reviews the new season of Black Mirror.

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Richard Kind Is Glad He's Not That Famous

April 14, 2025 • 46 mins
Kind is the announcer and host sidekick on the Netflix show Everybody's Live with John Mulaney. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing. You must understand — it's anarchy," he says of the show. He spoke with Terry Gross about having ego but no confidence, working with Sondheim, and working in his father's jewelry store as a teen.

Ken Tucker reviews Kendrick Lamar and SZA's single "Luther."

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Best Of: Jason Isbell / David Tennant

April 12, 2025 • 48 mins
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Isbell sings about his split from musician Amanda Shires on his latest album, Foxes in the Snow. "What I was attempting to do is document a very specific time where I was going through a lot of changes," he tells Terry Gross.

David Bianculli reviews the FX/Hulu series Dying for Sex.

When Scottish actor David Tennant was three, he told his parents he wanted to grow up to pla...
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'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs

April 11, 2025 • 46 mins
The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning comedy series returns for a fourth season this week. It's about two women — a successful comic/TV personality in her 70s, and her 20-something comedy writer — and the generational clashes that ensue. We're revisiting interviews with stars Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, and Paul W. Downs who co-created the series and plays their manager.

Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews Warfare, a...
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The Dark Secrets Of Johnson & Johnson

April 10, 2025 • 44 mins
Johnson & Johnson recently lost a bid to settle lawsuits that claimed its talc powder products, including baby powder, caused cancer. Author Gardiner Harris says the company's defense "is beginning to crumble." His book is No More Tears.

Also, John Powers reviews the new Apple TV+ series Your Friends & Neighbors, starring Jon Hamm.

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Trump's Tariffs & The Radical Remaking Of The Global Economy

April 9, 2025 • 44 mins
President Trump's sweeping tariff policy has upended the global economy. Zanny Minton Beddoes, the editor-in-chief of The Economist, likens it to The Art of the Deal — on steroids.

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The 'Fog Of Delusion' In Biden's Inner Circle

April 8, 2025 • 44 mins
Author Chris Whipple says Biden's family and closest advisors operated in denial regarding his ability to serve another term: "There's no doubt that they were protecting the president." Whipple spoke with campaign insiders to get a behind-the-scenes look at what happened in 2024. His book is Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History.

Our book critic Maureen Corrigan shares an...
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At 3 Years Old, David Tennant Knew He Wanted To Be Doctor Who

April 7, 2025 • 45 mins
When David Tennant was three, he told his parents he wanted to grow up to play Doctor Who on TV. As a teen, he held onto that dream: "I was quite weedy and I wore glasses and I had a terrible haircut, so all those things still felt possible in the world of the Doctor. There was something about that character I could be," Tennant tells Sam Briger. He was Doctor Who for five years and, it turns out, he was suited for lots of other ch...
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