R&B artist Jill Scott shares some of the lessons she learned from the legends who came before her, including the moment she first met Aretha Franklin. Scott?s new album is ?To Whom This May Concern.? 

Also, actor Riz Ahmed talks about his Prime Video series, ?Bait.? He plays a British Pakistani actor auditioning to be the next James Bond. He talks about drawing from moments in his own life, battling self-criticism and chasing acceptance. 


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We remember martial arts champion turned Hollywood action hero Chuck Norris, who died last week at age 86. In addition to his many kung fu and action films, he was the star of the long-running TV show, ?Walker, Texas Ranger.? He spoke with Terry Gross in 1988 about the karate he learned while stationed in Korea. 

Also, we remember Tex-Mex musician Augie Meyers of the Texas Tornadoes, who died March 7 at age 85.  His signature sound was created on the vox organ, an instrument made in Britain. When he went to England in the ?60s he got a call at his hotel. ?George Harrison and John Lennon called the hotel and wanted me to come to the studio because they wanted to see how they had a vox organ but they couldn't get the sound I had out of mine,? he told Terry Gross in 1990. 

Justin Chang reviews the film ?Miroirs No. 3? and David Bianculli reviews ?Marshals? and ?The Madison.?


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?Project Maven? is the story of how the U.S. spent a decade building an AI warfare system that's now being used in the war in Iran. Author and Bloomberg journalist Katrina Manson reveals the people behind that mission, and their belief that AI could make war more precise and save lives. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about the ethics of this technology. A troubling research study found AI models placed in simulated nuclear crisis scenarios chose the nuclear option 95% of the time. Also, Carolina Miranda reviews a Los Angeles art installation that harkens to the old days of cinema.

Also, Carolina Miranda reviews a Los Angeles art installation that harkens to the old days of cinema.

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In his second term, President Trump has ordered the removal of monuments, plaques and exhibitions related to slavery, and the history of racial injustice in the U.S. Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson has been working to ensure evidence of America's painful past is not erased. His organization, the Equal Justice Initiative, founded the Legacy Museum to show us the truth of our history. ?You can't get the beautiful ?R? words, like redemption and reconciliation and restoration and repair, unless you first tell the truth,? he tells Terry Gross.

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New Yorker writer Jon Lee Anderson describes conditions in Cuba, why it's vulnerable now ? and what regime change would mean ? considering the Castro family's entrenchment in the Cuban government.

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In his new Prime Video series, ?Bait,? Riz Ahmed plays an actor auditioning to be the next James Bond. Ahmed says Bond is a "symbol of aspiration, this unattainable kind of self" his character is pursuing. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about being his own worst critic, why he connected to Hamlet, and his early days as an MC on pirate radio. 


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Harrison Ford spoke with Terry Gross about his role in the Apple TV series ?Shrinking,? as a therapist who has Parkinson's Disease. He also talks about how he landed the role of Han Solo in ?Star Wars.?

Also, we?ll hear from British novelist Francis Spufford. His new book, ?Nonesuch,? follows a young woman in WWII London trying to survive the Blitz, navigate romance, and fight time-traveling fascists. He spoke with Executive Producer Sam Briger.

Critic David Bianculli reviews the new film ?Peaky Blinders,? which is a follow up to the hit British TV series starring Cillian Murphy. 


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?Jury Duty? is the Prime Video series about one unwitting regular guy who becomes part of a staged fake jury, not knowing that everyone around him is an actor. Season two is now streaming, with a new setting. It?s called ?Company Retreat.? We?re listening back to our interview with James Marsden, who played a satirical version of himself in the first season. 

Also, we remember raconteur Roy Book Binder, known for playing southern blues and hillbilly music. He died March 3rd at age 82. 

Justin Chang reviews the new Ryan Gosling space epic, ?Project Hail Mary.?


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The Grammy-winning R&B star spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley about making her new album, ?To Whom This May Concern,? finding inspiration in the poetry of Nikki Giovanni, and growing up in a multigenerational household. 


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In Francis Spufford?s new novel, ?Nonesuch,? magical, time-traveling fascists want to go back in time and murder Winston Churchill before he shores up Britain's will to fight the Nazis. The book?s hero, a young woman named Iris, is trying to survive the Blitz while navigating her love life and sexism in ?40s London. The author spoke with Fresh Air Executive Producer Sam Briger.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new movie adaptation of the TV series ?Peaky Blinders.?


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With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, policy expert Karim Sadjadpour says the war in Iran is becoming increasingly complicated: "I don't think President Trump ... understood what he was getting into." Sadjadpour spoke with Terry Gross about the historical context of the conflict, the four priorities for the U.S. government, and the likelihood of escalation to WWIII. 


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Daniel Okrent?s new biography, ?Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn?t Easy,? offers new insights into the renowned Broadway composer and lyricist. Okrent talks with Terry Gross about Sondheim?s often toxic relationship to his mother, his drinking and substance use, and finding himself through his art. ?There are two major arcs to [Stephen Sondheim?s] life. One is from absolute alienation to finally, near the end of his life, connection,? he says. ?The other is from an ambivalence that could be crippling at times, to resolution, to knowing who he was and what he was capable of doing.?

Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the novel ?Now I Surrender.?

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Delroy Lindo stars as Delta Slim, a gifted and haunted blues musician, in ?Sinners.? It's a performance that has earned Lindo his first Academy Award nomination. He wants to win, but he says he won't let it define him either way. ?I have never taken my marbles and gone home as a result of whatever disappointments, the vicissitudes of the industry.?

Also, we hear from novelist Tayari Jones. Her new book ?Kin? is a story of two motherless girls in 1950s Louisiana who became each other?s chosen family. The idea for the book came from her own experience of losing a friend. ?When you're friends with someone, you know your name will not be listed in any obituary. But it breaks your heart to lose your friends,? she tells Tonya Mosley. 


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Benicio del Toro is nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in ?One Battle After Another,? where he plays a karate sensei who runs what he calls a "Latino Harriet Tubman" operation. He was also in Wes Anderson?s latest film, ?The Phoenician Scheme.? He spoke with Tonya Mosley last year.

David Bianculli reviews ?Scarpetta,? the new Prime Video series starring Nicole Kidman, based on a series of books by Patricia Cornwell, and John Powers reviews the new Netflix series ?How to Get to Heaven from Belfast,? by the creator of ?Derry Girls.? 


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As part of his investigation into sports betting, Atlantic journalist McKay Coppins gambled $10,000 during last NFL season. He spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley about his experiment, what he learned, and what the explosion of betting is doing to society. ?It?s turning all of American life into a Las Vegas table game. There?s always this kind of glittering mirage of profit that you?re chasing, when, in reality, it?s designed to sort of demoralize and crush every regular person who plays.? They also talk about how betting has expanded to politics and international conflict. 


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After playing some of the most recognizable and beloved characters in cinematic history, Harrison Ford is not interested in retiring. "I really do love the work,? he tells Terry Gross. ?It constantly changes, and the people change, and the mission and the opportunity change, and it just makes for an interesting way to live your life." The 83 year-old looks back on his big break with ?Star Wars,? the challenges of playing a therapist in the Apple TV series ?Shrinking? and the infamous 2015 plane crash. 


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As a culture critic, Lemieux has spent years pushing back against the stereotypes and stigma that follow single mothers. Her new book blends her own memoir with the stories of 21 other Black women. 

Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews ?American Classic.? 


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In 2013, historian Rhae Lynn Barnes was researching blackface in America at the Library of Congress when she encountered something strange: Various primary sources on the subject were listed as "missing on shelf." It turns out that a librarian had purposely hid the materials to keep it from the KKK, which had a resurgence in the ?80s. Barnes?s new book, ?Darkology,? looks at the proliferation of racist minstrel shows, and how amateur blackface became one of the most popular forms of entertainment in America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Barnes also explains how blackface fell out of fashion and then ultimately became taboo. ?It is our patriotic duty as American citizens [to] help make sure that the American public has access to our history in all of its complexity,? she says. 


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Irish actor Jessie Buckley is nominated for an Oscar for her starring role as Shakespeare?s wife in ?Hamnet.? She talks about the film and how motherhood has changed her. ?The thing this story offered me that brought me into this next chapter of my life as a mother was tenderness.?

Also, documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville tells us about his new documentary, ?Man on the Run,? which focuses on Paul McCartney?s life and music after the break-up of The Beatles. 

John Powers reviews ?Kokuho,? a Japanese film about a gangster?s son who dreams of being a star in Kabuki theater.


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Sedaka, who died last week at 86, wrote and recorded hits in the late ?50s and early ?60s ? songs like ?Calendar Girl? and ?Breaking up is Hard to Do.? He was nine years old when he began studying piano at Juilliard. Sedaka told Terry Gross in 2007, ?To the shock of my family, after studying at Juilliard I sold 40 million records in five years.? The British invasion derailed his career until years later when Elton John helped revive it, by signing Sedaka to his label. 

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album by The Paranoid Style, led by composer-singer Elizabeth Nelson. And Justin Chang reviews the new Pixar film, ?Hoppers.?


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Delroy Lindo is Oscar-nominated for his role as Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler?s ?Sinners.? In a wide-ranging conversation with co-host Tonya Mosley, he talks about preparing for the role, growing up in the U.K. as the son of a Jamaican immigrant, and a special phone call from Spike Lee. He also shares what was going through his mind when he was onstage at the BAFTAs when a man shouted a racial slur.

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Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville tells us about his new film, ?Man on The Run.?It begins when the Beatles end, with Paul McCartney trying to figure out who he is as a musician and as a person? without John Lennon and the band that defined him since he was a teenager. Neville got access to previously unseen archival footage of McCartney with his young family and forming his new band, Wings. He spoke with Fresh Air contributor/producer Ann Marie Baldonado.

 
Also, jazz critic Martin Johnson reviews an Art Blakey concert album, ?Strasbourg 82.? 

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President Trump is promoting tighter restrictions on mail-in ballots as well as passage of the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote. UCLA professor Richard Hasen unpacks the ramifications.

John Powers reviews the Oscar-nominated Japanese film ?Kokuho.?

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Jessie Buckley spoke with Terry Gross about her role as Shakespeare?s wife, Agnes, in ?Hamnet,? directed by Chloé Zhao. She?s nominated for an Oscar and already won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for her performance. The Irish actor talks about motherhood, the singing competition show she did in her teens, and the infamous crying scene in ?Hamnet.? 

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Kate Hudson is up for an Oscar for her role as Claire in the film ?Song Sung Blue,? starring opposite Hugh Jackman as one half of Lightning & Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute band. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about pursuing singing late in her career. We also hear from Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard. He?s earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in the film ?Sentimental Value.? He?ll talk with Dave Davies about his many roles over the years -- from 'Dune' to 'Good Will Hunting,' and 'Mamma Mia!' and recovering from a stroke that impaired his ability to memorize lines.

David Bianculli reviews a new documentary about Paul McCartney in his decade after the Beatles.

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We take a trip to Bikini Bottom and revisit our interview with Tom Kenny, who plays SpongeBob on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, and in the new ?Spongebob SquarePants? film. Kenny?s been voicing the character since the show began in 1999. In 2004 he talked about creating the voice, including experimenting with inhaling helium.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews ?Man on the Run,? the new documentary about Sir Paul McCartney in the decade after the Beatles split up, and Justin Chang reviews the new erotic drama ?Dreams,? starring Jessica Chastain. 

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New York Times journalist David Sanger discusses how we got here, the state of Iran's nuclear weapons program, the likelihood of U.S. military force against Iran and if Trump's goal is regime change.

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Aside from the evil Baron Harkonnen in ?Dune,? actor Stellan Skarsgård doesn?t really believe in bad guys. He looks for nuance in every role. He?s Oscar-nominated for his performance in ?Sentimental Value,? as a successful filmmaker who is estranged from his grown daughters. Skarsgård spoke with Dave Davies about improvising with Robin Williams in ?Good Will Hunting,? raising actor children, and how a stroke impacted his acting.

Also, critic Maureen Corrigan reviews ?This is Not About Us,? by Allegra Goodman.

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Eight years after her bestseller 'An American Marriage,' Tayari Jones has written a new novel, 'Kin,' set in the Jim Crow South. It follows two girls, Vernice and Annie, who grow up next door to each other without their mothers. That shared wound binds them and carries them through adulthood and across class lines. Jones says the idea for the book came from her own experience of losing a friend ? and the particular kind of grief that the world doesn't always recognize. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about female friendship, growing up with civil rights activist parents, and the writing class that changed her life.'Kin' was just selected by Oprah?s Book Club. 

Also, critic David Bianculli gives his take on the latest TV shows.

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Kate Hudson has had a hugely successful career as an actor and entrepreneur, but knew she'd always regret it if she didn't try her hand at music. Finally in 2024 she released her debut album, 'Glorious,' and got to share a whole other side of herself with the world. ?I'm very happy with myself as a mother. Like I feel like I've made all the right mistakes and all the wrong mistakes,? she says. ?But I couldn't say that about my art. And that would be my own personal sadness and regret, is that I didn't share my writings as a musician.? She spoke with co-host Tonya Mosley about taking the leap, her Oscar-nominated performance in 'Song Sung Blue,' and what she remembers from the set of 'Almost Famous.' 


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The Nigerian musician Fela Kuti used his music in the ?70s as a weapon against colonial values and his country?s brutal dictatorship. The danceable music and political lyrics inspired a youth movement. Award-winning podcaster Jad Abumrad talks with Terry about his podcast series, ?Fela Kuti: Fear No Man.? 

Also, we hear from best-selling science journalist Michael Pollan. His new book ?A World Appears? asks how technology is changing our consciousness. ?Consciousness is under siege,? he says. ?I think that it?s the last frontier for these companies that want to sell our time and, of course, our time is our mind time.? Pollan also questions whether A.I. is capable of achieving consciousness.

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The great actor Robert Duvall made his mark starring in epic movies and intimate dramas including ?The Godfather,? ?Tender Mercies,? ?The Great Santini,? and, of course, ?Apocalypse Now.? He died Sunday at age 95. We listen back to archival interviews from 1996 and 2010. 

Also, the documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, whose approach was to choose a subject and capture it at great, revealing length, died Monday at age 96. His films include 'Titicut Follies,' 'Central Park,' 'Juvenile Court,' 'High School,' and 'Hospital.' He spoke with Terry Gross in 1986 about why he chose documentary as his medium. 

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Science journalist Michael Pollan has written extensively about the therapeutic benefits of mind-altering psychedelics. His new book, ?A World Appears,? asks, what is consciousness? ?Consciousness has kind of become the secular substitute for the soul,? he tells Terry Gross. Pollan also talks about current studies on consciousness and whether plants and artificial intelligence have consciousness. 

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The AI chatbot Claude can help you write an email, challenge a hospital bill, or publish a novel. It was also reportedly used by the U.S. military in the operation that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Now the Pentagon is threatening to cut ties with Anthropic, the company that built it, because it insists on keeping restrictions around autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. Journalist Gideon Lewis-Kraus spent months inside Anthropic, one of the world's most secretive AI companies, for a new piece in ?The New Yorker,? where he asks: What happens when the people who built the machine can't fully explain what it's doing? He spoke with Tonya Mosley.

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Photojournalist Loubna Mrie grew up in Syria in a wealthy and abusive home. Her father was part of the regime, allegedly an assassin for Bashar al-Assad?s father. Loubna joined the Syrian revolution first as a protester and then as a photojournalist. She talks with guest interviewer Aarti Shahani about how her family and country fell apart, and lessons she brought to her new home in the U.S.. Her book is ?Defiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria.? 

Later, John Powers reviews ?Crime 101,? a thriller starring Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Jon Meacham talks with Dave Davies about Trump's impact on democracy. Meacham's latest book, ?American Struggle,? is a collection of speeches, letters and other original texts from 1619 to the present.


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Dorothy Roberts? father was a white anthropologist who studied interracial marriages and her mother was a Black woman from Jamaica. She always assumed her parents' relationship inspired her father?s scholarly focus, but that changed after he died, and she found boxes of interviews he conducted with interracial couples, dating back to the 1930s, decades before he met her mother. Robert's memoir is ?The Mixed Marriage Project.?

We also hear from historian Heather McGhee. Her book, ?The Sum of Us,? examines a question at the heart of American life: Why do so many Americans believe that progress for one group means loss for another?

Also, David Bianculli talks about some TV shows he?s been catching up on. 

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Singer, songwriter, and producer Raphael Saadiq is known for his work as a member of Tony! Toni! Toné!, as a solo artist, and for his work producing and writing for artists like Solange, D?Angelo, Beyoncé, John Legend, and more. ?I Lied to You,? the song he co-wrote for the film ?Sinners,? has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. He spoke with Tonya Mosley. 

Also, we remember jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski. His playing was influenced by classical techniques, swing and traditional jazz. 

Justin Chang reviews Emerald Fennell?s ?Wuthering Heights.?

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Considered the father of Afrobeat, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti used his music in the 1970s to combat colonial values and brutal dictatorship. Former Radiolab host Jad Abumrad tells his story in the podcast series, ?Fela Kuti: Fear No Man.? He spoke with Terry Gross. 

Also, Fresh Air?s longtime executive producer Danny Miller is retiring. We close out the show with an appreciation and send-off from the staff. 


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British journalist Vicky Ward first profiled sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 for Vanity Fair. The experience was so alarming and stressful that she went into labor with her twins at 30 weeks, two months early. More than 20 years later, Ward, still following the case, talks with Tonya Mosley about the fallout from the millions of publicly released documents, and why this story took so long to come out.

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Almost a decade after her father's death, legal scholar Dorothy Roberts had to confront the 25 boxes of his research collecting dust in her office. Roberts' parents, a white anthropologist and a Black woman from Jamaica, spent years doing research on interracial marriage and intimacy in Chicago. Her new memoir, ?The Mixed Marriage Project,? draws from their records. She says the project permeated every corner of her upbringing, and now, as a scholar herself, she?s reflecting on her life and racial identity with a new lens.

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We look back at the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge in Idaho, where gunfire left two civilians and a deputy U.S. Marshal dead. Chris Jennings? new book explores the apocalyptic religious beliefs that led Randy Weaver and his family to move to a remote cabin, armed to resist government intrusion. He traces the impact of Ruby Ridge on the spread of conspiratorial anti-government and white-supremacist movements. His book is ?End of Days.?

Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the memoir 'Dizzy,? by Rachel Weaver.  

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Julia Loktev?s latest documentary, ?My Undesirable Friends - Part 1: Last Air in Moscow,? follows independent Russian journalists in the months leading up to, and just after, Russia?s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The film has arrived in the U.S. at a moment when questions about press freedom feel newly present. ?Every day it feels like there is something to bring the story home for Americans, where it almost feels like there?s Easter eggs in the film that become more and more relevant.? she says. 

Also, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Heather Ann Thompson revisits a 1984 New York City subway shooting, when Bernhard Goetz, a white man, shot four Black teenagers. In the days that followed, Goetz became  a hometown hero. ?We are watching someone tell us exactly who they are, exactly what they did, and it will not matter. Up will become down, down will become up. And that also felt very, very familiar to where we are today.? Her book is ?Fear and Fury.? 

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Martin Scorsese's masterpiece about loneliness, urban decay, and vigilantism is 50 years old this month. We?re revisiting archival interviews about ?Taxi Driver? with Scorsese, screenwriter Paul Schrader and actors Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster, and Al Brooks.

Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews 'Pillion.'

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Julia Loktev's acclaimed documentary, ?My Undesirable Friends,? follows young Russian journalists in the months before and after Putin's invasion of Ukraine ? and the impossible choices they face when dissent means prison or exile. 

Also, jazz historian Kevin Whitehead revisits a two-night set Miles Davis did in Chicago in 1965.


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Atlantic writer Robert Kagan says as President Trump violates norms, laws and the Constitution, including his call to nationalize elections, we?re on the edge of the consolidation of dictatorship. ?I think we're already well into a dictatorship. It's just a question of whether [Trump] will go ahead and basically disrupt the '26 elections, which I think he's made it clear he has every intention of doing now,? Kagan tells Terry Gross. ?So I think that this should be a five-alarm fire for everybody.?

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We go inside the real succession story within the Murdoch family media empire. It includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. In 2023 Rupert Murdoch chose his eldest son and most conservative child, Lachlan, as his successor ? buying out three of his other children from the family trust and estranging them in the process. ?His dream was to build a family business. And what he built was a business that destroyed his family,? journalist Gabriel Sherman says. His book, ?Bonfire of the Murdochs,? also examines how the Murdochs changed politics on three continents over half a century. He spoke with guest interviewer Sam Fragoso. 

Later, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the return of ?The Muppets.? 

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"Every now and then you bump up against a part that presses you to the wall of your ability," Hawke says of playing lyricist Lorenz Hart in ?Blue Moon.? He?s nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Hawke spoke with Terry Gross about collaborating with Richard Linklater, losing his friend River Phoenix, and his thoughts on aging. 


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Liz Moore?s bestselling book, ?Long Bright River,? was set in a troubled Philadelphia neighborhood where she?d worked on a photo essay. ?My own family has a long history of addiction. I was kind of emotionally drawn back to the neighborhood over and over again because of that,? she tells Dave Davies. The resulting thriller about a policewoman searching for her missing sister was made into a series on Peacock. Moore?s latest book, ?The God of the Woods,? where a child goes missing from a remote children?s camp, will be adapted to a Netflix series.

Also, we hear from one of England?s most acclaimed writers, Julian Barnes. He has a new book, which he says will be his last. It?s called ?Departures.? He spoke with Terry Gross.

Maureen Corrigan reviews George Saunders? new novel, ?Vigil.?

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When Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was a kid growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, he would draw monsters all day. His deeply Catholic grandmother even had him exorcised because of it. But when del Toro saw the 1931 film ?Frankenstein,? his life changed. "I realized I understood my faith or my dogmas better through Frankenstein than through Sunday mass." His adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic book is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Del Toro spoke with Terry Gross about getting over his fear of death, the design of Frankenstein's creature, and his opinion on generative AI.

Also, John Powers reviews the noirish drama ?Islands.? 

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