Fresh Air

"Female characters are not [usually] the center of the story," filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood says. Her new movie, 'The Old Guard,' follows a diverse group of world-weary warriors who've been alive for centuries. Prince-Bythewood makes history as the first Black woman to direct a film adaptation of a comic book.

Film critic Justin Chang reviews the documentary 'Boys State,' about a week-long mock political campaign for teen boys.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr...

Prejean is best known for her 1993 memoir, 'Dead Man Walking,' about her role as a spiritual adviser to a convicted killer on death row. The story was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Prejean has accompanied six prisoners to their executions and has been at the forefront of activism against the death penalty. She spoke with Terry Gross in 2019.

David Bianculli reviews HBO's series 'Lovecraft Country.'

The HBO series 'Watchmen' uses sci-fi and action heroes to examine American racism. Cord Jefferson wrote the episode of the series in which the main character narrowly survives the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, when white supremacists destroyed a prosperous Black community. In addition to writing for 'Succession,' 'The Good Place' and 'The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore,' Jefferson has also written personal essays about his mother's cancer diagnosis, donating a kidney to his father, and being biracial...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are frequently seen as opposing forces in the struggle for civil rights, but Black Power scholar Dr. Peniel Joseph says the truth is more nuanced. His new book, 'The Sword and the Shield,' braids together the lives of the two civil rights revolutionaries.

Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews the documentary 'Boys State,' about a week-long mock political campaign for teen boys.

Veteran Republican strategist Stuart Stevens says the party's support for Trump reflects the abandonment of principles it long claimed to embrace, such as fiscal restraint, personal responsibility and family values. Stevens has helped get scores of Republicans elected, including George W. Bush and Bob Dole. His new book about how Trumpism has hijacked the party is, 'It Was All A Lie.'

Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews 'Star Trek: Lower Decks,' a CBS All Access cartoon.

"Female characters are not [usually] the center of the story," filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood says. Her new movie, 'The Old Guard,' follows a diverse group of world-weary warriors who've been alive for centuries. Prince-Bythewood also talks about choreographing fight scenes, and her other films 'Love & Basketball' and 'Beyond the Lights.'

In 'Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents', Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson examines the laws and practices that created a bipolar caste system in the U.S. — and how the Nazis borrowed from it.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews two new novels: 'The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die,' and 'Blacktop Wasteland.'

Since 2004, more than 2,000 American newspapers have gone out of business...

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues and today we remember one of baseball's greatest pitchers, Satchel Paige. We hear from Larry Tye, author of 'Satchel: The Life and Times of An American Legend.' Paige began his career pitching in the Negro leagues and later became a Major League star. In the 1930s, he made his way across the country amazing audiences with his blazing fastball and pinpoint accuracy...

Pete Hamill, who died Aug. 5, was a columnist and editor at the 'New York Post' and the 'New York Daily News,' covering wars, crime and the people of NYC's boroughs. He helped convince his friend Robert Kennedy to run for president, and on the night RFK was shot, helped tackle the assassin. Hamill spoke with 'Fresh Air' about RFK's assassination, giving up drinking in a boozy industry, and his work in the tabloids.

In Jeffrey ​Toobin's new book, ​'True Crimes and Misdemeanors,​'​​ the CNN legal analyst ​examines how​ President​ Trump and his team out-maneuvered special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller, he says, gave Trump "a free pass" on obstruction of justice.​ ​We'll also talk about the impeachment trial and the Supreme Court.