Fresh Air

Matthew Specktor grew up the son of a famous Hollywood agent. In The Golden Hour he serves up family saga, cultural criticism, fictionalized biography, history and lament for a vanishing world.

Memoirist and executive Daria Burke grew up in 1980s Detroit amid addiction and instability. She spent years trying to outrun that past by building a carefully curated, outwardly successful life.

On Robeson, opera singer Davóne Tines pays tribute to the musician often remembered for singing "Ol' Man River." Tines' album pairs well with the 14-CD album Paul Robeson: Voice of Freedom.

Haggard, who died in 2016, spoke to Fresh Air in 1995 about his love of trains. When he became a star, he acquired his own observation car. Now that coach is part of the Virginia Scenic Railway.

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.

NEA Jazz Master Braxton turns 80 this year. Lehman, one of his proteges, has created a tribute that highlights the composer's early work and shows the roads to and from his music.

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker directed both Black Panther films and Creed. Coogler's latest movie is a vampire thriller about twins who open a juke joint in Jim Crow Mississippi.

Laila Lalami's dystopian novel centers on a woman who's been incarcerated because an algorithm flagged her as a crime risk. The Dream Hotel paints a grim picture about the ways our data can betray us.

The Max show uses actors and real people to stage elaborate recreations and imaginings of events. It's like a mystery tour, because you aren't given any clues about the final destination.

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."