Journalist and author Rick Bragg joins us to talk about his Deep South memoir of a difficult father, “The Prince of Frogtown.”

Housing prices nationwide continue to plummet in the latest numbers. We’ll check in around the country from Boston to L.A., and in between, to ask if housing is finally bottoming out.

A new book on parenting says you can shrug off the culture of “cool” and nurture well-rounded kids in a grow-up-too-fast world. We’ll talk with the author — and you.

We talk with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi about her rise to power, battles with Bush, an unpopular Congress, and the ‘08 elections.

Are you a multi-slacker? A matador? A frazz master? We’ll look at the weird new vocabulary of today’s business world.

A huge immigration raid on an Iowa meatpacking plant in May sent shockwaves all the way to Washington. Now come stark revelations on conditions in that plant.

Philippe Petit walked a high wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Now they’re gone. He looks back, in an acclaimed new documentary, “Man on Wire.”

The Beijing Olympics are about to open. Whatever happened to all the campaigns to leverage China on Darfur, Tibet, and more, with the Games?

A defense of marriage. A new book says staying in that long-term relationship can give purpose and meaning.

Obama abroad. McCain on the homefront. The House passes a housing bill. Karadzic caught. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

We sat down with California poet Kay Ryan, recently named the next poet laureate of the United States, to talk about her wordplay, her worldview, and where it all comes from.

Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky was once the richest man in Russia. Now he’s in prison and desperate to get out. We talk with the Bronx attorney who’s his lead legal strategist about power and the law in oil-rich Russia.

Filling the ranks in wartime. We talk with a US Army recruiter, his recruit, and the film director who features them up close in a new HBO documentary, “The Recruiter.”

Days of reckoning in Detroit. With gas topping $4, and Ford announcing historic changes, we look at shrinking American cars and carmakers, and whether they can make the turn.

The environment and the green grass of home. Will Americans ever let go of their lawns?

With Senator Obama in Middle East, we look at what a President Obama’s real options would be in the tough terrain from Israel to Islamabad.

Physics and the presidency. A top scientist says our challenges require breakthroughs.

The United States is for sale. Budweiser’s Belgian now. A lot more is on the block. We ask what it means for Americans as the world buys us up.

A new film shows off the soft side of Genghis Khan. We talk with the director of “Mongol.”

Markets in trouble. A call for more troops in Afghanistan. And Budweiser will no longer be American-owned. Our news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Watch the video of the Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch in our studio, talking about music, sports, life, and his new hip-hop fueled basketball documentary, “Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot.”

The FBI turns 100. From gangster-fighting days to FISA wiretaps, we look at the bureau’s storied past and way ahead.

Legal eagle turned best-selling novelist Stephen Carter does it again, with black power brokers and the White House. He joins us.

Missiles and sabers rattling in the Middle East: Iranian. Israeli. American. We ask where it’s headed, and where Washington really stands on the possibility of war with Iran

This week’s New Yorker Obama cover sparked an uproar of controversy. We take a closer look.

Heavyweight Harvard economist Martin Feldstein on the economic mess we are in, and maybe, the way out.

Leona Helmsley put her pooch on a pedestal and left eight billion dollars for the dogs of New York. We’ll look at people going way out with their pets.

The U.S .Treasury and Federal Reserve jump in to rescue the pillars of the US mortgage system: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Scouring China for the perfect cup of tea. A new exploration asks whether industrialization is watering down an ancient tradition.

Iranian missiles test-fired. Obama and McCain court Latinos. The Senate signs off on domestic spying. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Powerful Nigerian-born writer Uwem Akpan sees Africa through the eyes of its children — slavery, slums, and all.

Barack Obama is tacking too far right, say backers on the left. So, is the candidate betraying his base, playing smart politics, “refining” his message?

Billionaire, philanthropist and market guru George Soros says it’s the 1930s all over again, and our “superbubble” is bursting.

A top-tier bipartisan commission wants to restore the powers of Congress in declaring war. We’ll hear the debate.

Stella Rimington, the real-life “M” who ran Britain’s MI5, talks spies, lies, and her new thriller, “Illegal Action.”

Bob Barr, former GOP congressman from Georgia, is running for President on the Libertarian ticket. We ask what makes a Republican turn Libertarian, and how he would shape America’s agenda.

From bags to water, journalist Lucas Conley says we have “Obsessive Branding Disorder.”

What you and your community can do to curb carbon emissions. We talk with The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert about direct action on the big problem of climate change.

By host Tom Ashbrook
Sparky Rucker grew up black in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of a family of preachers and policemen who fell in love with the blues and then all of American folk and the stories of American history.
Rhonda Hicks Rucker grew up white in Louisville, Kentucky, trained to be a doctor, then fell in [...]

By host Tom Ashbrook
Sunshine State humorist and novelist Carl Hiaasen knows a lot about Florida and human nature. What he didn’t know was just how ugly his own nature could get when he put it back on the golf course.
Decades after Hiaasen laid down his golf clubs as a young father, he picked them [...]

A conversation with director John Sayles about his life in film, his latest - “Honeydripper” - and what it takes to be an independent filmmaker today.

An employee sues his company for reading his personal email, and the case raises a lot of questions about life and privacy in the electronic workplace. We’ll investigate.

Bedtime stories are booming. Even in our hi-tech, hi-speed times, children’s books are the most profitable segment of the publishing world.
And perhaps it’s no surprise: Across cultures and centuries, we?ve always had literature for kids. From Aesop’s Fables to medieval “primers” to tales of Robin Hood and Robinson Crusoe, Mother Goose and Harry Potter.
These stories [...]

With Robert Mugabe’s rigged re-election a done deal, and the region’s power players divided, we talk with close observers about Zimbabwe’s future and democracy in Africa.

Renowned psychiatrist George Vaillant makes the claim we’re hardwired for faith, hope and love.

For the first time in America, over half of all mothers under thirty are unwed. We look at the impact on children, families, and the whole American economy.