Episode 2

The actor Eva Marie Saint died last week at age 102. She won an academy award for her first film role in On the Waterfront opposite Marlon Brando, and in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest she co-starred with Cary Grant. She said Hitchcock didn't give her much direction. “Things like lower your voice, don't use your hands… and look directly into Cary Grant's eyes at all times – which was not difficult.” She told Terry Gross in 2000. Also Anne Rice's debut novel Interview with the Vampire turns 50 this year. Terry spoke with Rice in 1990. “I think if a vampire were to come to me and say, 'I can make you immortal, we do exist,' I think I might find the offer irresistible,” she said. Film critic Justin Chang reviews Nathan Fielder’s highly-anticipated documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode 3

Atlantic staff writer Josh Tyrangiel says Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos each want to colonize the moon, mine its resources and launch thousands more satellites -- but their only real competition is each other. “Ordinarily, we have entrusted the future of our civilizations to people we elect to office,” Tyrangiel tells Terry Gross. “We now have folks with a tremendous amount of power over our future, particularly if you view the future as being partially in space, and we have to reckon with it.”Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode 4

As polar ice melts in the Arctic, shipping lanes are opening up, making the region a new zone of super-power competition. Writer Rana Foroohar spoke with Dave Davies about the stakes. Her book is in Sea Change.Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the new graphic book The Saddest Kitchens, by New Yorker cartoonists Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode 5

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.Li’s teenage sons both died by suicide six years apart, Vincent in 2017 at age 16, and James in 2024 at age 19. Her Pulitzer-Prize winning 2025 memoir, Things in Nature Merely Grow, chronicled the loss of her sons and her effort to go on. Her new novel is about two piano prodigies in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It’s called Music Against the Night. She spoke with Terry Gross about the “abyss” of sadness, finding comfort in piano and writing. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode 6

In his new action thriller, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Mahershala Ali plays a devout Muslim father and hit man whose life is upended when he suddenly has to care for his children on his own. The role brings together a lot of what has shaped Ali as an actor, including an attraction to characters who live in morally complicated places. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about why the script blew him away, filming Moonlight, and his childhood.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode 7

Prine, who died in 2020, would’ve turned 80 this weekend. A five-day event in and around his native Chicago is underway, including a tribute concert. The beloved folk singer-songwriter spoke with Terry Gross in 2018 about how throat and neck surgery affected his voice, getting discovered by Roger Ebert, and his songwriting process. Film critic Justin Chang reviews the new film Fjord.The audio version of this story incorrectly states that John Prine’s song "Sam Stone” is about a Korean War veteran. In fact, it is about a veteran of the Vietnam War.Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode 8

Ryan has spent decades pressing presidents for answers. She talks about access, power, race and how asking questions put her in President Trump's crosshairs. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about her book, Notes on a Blacklash. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new CBS legal drama set in Silicon Valley, Cupertino. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode 9

New York Times military and Pentagon reporter Greg Jaffe says Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has disproportionately blocked promotions of Black and women senior officers, and he’s also been purging the military of transgender people. “Usually Secretaries of Defense do everything they can to protect the military from our divisive politics and those culture wars,” Jaffe tells Dave Davies. “Hegseth was really the first Secretary of Defense I've seen in my lifetime who invited that into the Pentagon, and made it a central plank of his identity and leadership.”Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode 10

Murray Hill's character on HBO’s Somebody Somewhere, Fred Rococo, is a soil scientist trans man who hosts a queer cabaret. “[He] is me dialed down to like a 2,” he tells Terry Gross. In real life, Murray has hosted drag king shows, queer cabarets, burlesque shows and performed his own act. He spoke with Terry Gross about finding and building his community, forgiveness, and how anti-trans rhetoric and policy has affected him. His new memoir is Showbiz! My Life as a Middle-Aged Man. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our YouTube channel Check out the Fresh Air ArchivesSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy