Fresh Air

Fifty years ago this week, 'The New York Times' published the first in a series of articles based on a classified Defense Department study that was leaked to the paper by Daniel Ellsberg. This study came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. It chronicled decades of failed U.S. policy in Vietnam, and the ways the American public was misled in how the war was conducted...

What are the credible questions related to the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China? President Biden has asked the intelligence community to investigate, but 'Vanity Fair' reporter Katherine Eban says there have been many roadblocks.

Remember the Alamo? According to Texas lore, it's the site in San Antonio where, in 1836, about 180 Texan rebels died defending the state during Texas' war for independence from Mexico. But in a new book, Bryan Burrough (along with co-writers Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford) challenge the historical lore of the Alamo — including the story that Davy Crockett refused to surrender...

For most of Ashley C. Ford's life, her father was incarcerated for rape. This was especially traumatizing for Ford, as she herself is a survivor of sexual assault. Her new bestselling memoir 'Somebody's Daughter' details her evolving relationship with her father and her own body. "I'm in love with my humanity. I love being a human. I do," she says. "The range of emotions is terrifying and beautiful...

Anthony Ramos says Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical 'In the Heights' filled him with hope about a life on the stage: "I felt like I'm watching my cousins and my aunts and uncles on the stage ... like friends that I grew up with. And these people are speaking vernacular that's familiar to me." Now he's starring — and singing and dancing and rapping — in the film adaptation. We also talk about his roles in 'Hamilton,' his childhood, and his Calvin Klein ads.

Rita Moreno moved to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico as a child. She says her 'West Side Story' role is "the only part I ever remember where I represented Hispanics in a dignified and positive way." Moreno is an EGOT, a winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.

Film critic Justin Chang reviews the film adaptation of the musical 'In the Heights...

We remember actor Clarence Williams III, best known for playing Linc Hayes, one of three hippie undercover cops on the TV series 'The Mod Squad' from 1968 to 1973.

Also, Stephen Colbert begins taping the 'The Late Show' in front of a live audience again on Monday. We hear his interview with Terry about doing the show from home taping during the pandemic. "I got into show business in a way to not be alone. Like a lot of comedians, I'm a bit of a broken toy," Colbert says...

New York Times investigative reporter Michael Schwirtz gained access to the dashboard of DarkSide, a ransomware operation that's pulled in more than $90 million since it began last August. Schwirtz talks about DarkSide's business model, its customer support system to help the hackers it enables, and help the victims learn how to use Bitcoin to pay the ransom.

On the morning of Feb. 20, 1962, about 100,000 spectators gathered in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to witness the launch of the Friendship 7, the United States' first mission to put an astronaut in orbit around the Earth. Historian Jeff Shesol says there was real fear that astronaut John Glenn wouldn't survive the day. We talk with Shesol about the early days of NASA, and how the Cold War pushed the U.S. space program to its limits. His book is 'Mercury Rising...

When Daisy Hernández was 5, her aunt in Colombia came down with a mysterious illness that caused her large intestine to swell. Hernandez details her aunt's story — and her own — in a new memoir.