History

An ongoing investigation by PBS' Frontline, The Times-Picayune and ProPublica examines the many violent incidents that took place between police officers and civilians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Reporter A.C. Thompson recounts the difficulties of trying to piece together the details.

In 1963, French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot decided to make a movie that would reinvent the movies. It was called Inferno, and the unfinished film was an enormous failure. But a new documentary about the disastrous project is anything but -- critic John Powers says Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno is "cinematically thrilling."

NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr died a week ago at the age of 93. School covered Watergate for CBS and broke many major stories, including a secret U.S. plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. Fresh Air remembers the legendary broadcast journalist with highlights from a 1994 interview.

In December 2008, the Rev. Richard Cizik was forced to resign from his position in response to comments he made on Fresh Air in support of same-sex civil unions. He returns to the show to discuss how his life has changed -- and why he believes evangelicals need to change, too.

Reporter Mark Mazzetti was one of several reporters from The New York Times who sifted through the 92,000 secret military documents leaked by WikiLeaks. He explains how the Times worked to verify the information in the documents -- and what the information means for the future of the war in Afghanistan.

Wikileaks is a secretive website with no official headquarters and thousands of leaked, untraceable documents. Investigative reporter Philip Shenon explains the history of the site -- and recent developments since the April release of a classified U.S. military video showing a civilian massacre.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse examines the public discourse that led to the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. She details the various legal briefs presented by both sides of the abortion debate to the court — and explains the newest challenges facing the legislation today.

The longest-serving U.S. Senator in history died Monday. He was 92. In a 2004 interview on Fresh Air, Byrd discussed his 50-year Senate career with Terry Gross — and talked about the noteworthy votes he cast over the years.

David Edelstein reviews two new documentaries he loves: Restrepo is set in Afghanistan and co-directed by photographer Tim Hetherington and author Sebastian Junger, who wrote The Perfect Storm. Madeleine Sackler's The Lottery centers on high-testing charter schools in Harlem and the drawing that determines who gets in.

Quanah Parker, considered the greatest Comanche chief, was the son of Cynthia Ann Parker, a white pioneer woman kidnapped by a raiding party when she was a little girl. Their story — and the saga of the powerful American Indian tribe — is told by S.C. Gwynne in his new book, Empire of the Summer Moon.

New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright spent three weeks in Gaza late last year. Wright discusses Israel's recent easing of the Gaza blockade -- and explains what it could mean for the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

If the Dead Rise Not, the latest book in Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther detective series, shifts the saga from prewar Nazi Germany to 1954 Havana. Critic John Powers says the Chandleresque novel kept him glued to his deck chair for days.

A natural gas mining company sent Josh Fox a letter offering him $100,000 in exchange for the rights to drill on his land. Instead of saying yes, Fox made a documentary called Gasland about the unexpected results of natural gas drilling -- and why he believes there is continued cause for concern.

The filmmaker's documentary The Oath tells the story of two men who both worked for Osama bin Laden and then wound up in incredibly different spots: One drives a taxicab in Yemen, while the other sits in solitary confinement at Guantanamo. Poitras how she gained access to the story -- and why questions still remain about the film's protagonist.

Director Laura Poitras set out to make a documentary that followed a prisoner released from Guantanamo Bay. But her movie about Salim Hamdan became more complicated when she met Hamdan's brother-in-law Abu Jandal, an enigmatic man and Osama bin Laden's former bodyguard. David Edelstein says the film is a fine one, full of "haunting ambiguities."

Drinking didn't stop in the United States from 1920 to 1933 -- it just went underground. Author Daniel Okrent discusses the lasting cultural and political impact of Prohibition in his new book, Last Call.

Gretchen Morgenson, who covers the world financial markets for The New York Times, discusses the investigations into Goldman Sachs by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Justice Department and a Senate subcommittee — and reflects on the role Goldman Sachs played in the financial crisis.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tenn. For the next two months, the man who shot him, James Earl Ray, was able to evade the FBI during a massive worldwide manhunt. Writer Hampton Sides traces the movements of both King and Ray in his new book, Hellhound on His Trail.

New York Times foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins has just returned from Afghanistan. He discusses what he's seen since the recent troop surge and explains the challenges the U.S. faces in trying to drive the Taliban out of the country.

Richard Clarke, the former anti-terrorism czar, has now turned his attention to a new national security threat: cyberwar. In a new book, Clarke details what a full-scale cyberattack could look like, how the United States is particularly vulnerable, and what measures can be taken to ensure our networks remain safe.