Fresh Air

We remember British author Hilary Mantel who died Sept. 22. Mantel was best known for her trilogy of novels about Thomas Cromwell, the political fixer for Henry VIII. In 2012 she spoke with Terry Gross about her love of history. "Instead of thinking there was a wall between the living and the dead, I thought there was a very thin veil. It was almost as if they'd just gone into the next room...

Historian Jeff Shesol recalls the early days of the U.S. space program, when rockets often blew up in test launchings, and no one was sure John Glenn would make it through America's first orbital flight alive. In his book Mercury Rising, he describes how Soviet success in space forced a reluctant President Kennedy to embrace the program.

And film critic Justin Chang reviews Bros, the new gay rom-com starring Billy Eichner.

40 people rely on water from the Colorado River, but overuse and global warming have combined to create a water emergency. Tough choices must be made soon, or farms and cities will face critical shortages. We talk with ProPublica investigative reporter Abrahm Lustgarten.
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Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a recording by pianist Mal Waldron.

40 million people rely on water from the Colorado River, but overuse and global warming have combined to create a water emergency. Tough choices must be made soon, or farms and cities will face critical shortages. We talk with ProPublica investigative reporter Abrahm Lustgarten.
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Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a recording by pianist Mal Waldron.

The British writer, who died Sept. 22, wrote a trilogy of critically acclaimed historical novels on the life of Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's most trusted advisors. Mantel was the first woman to win the Man Booker Prize twice. She spoke with Terry Gross in 2012.

Also, Ken Tucker reviews a new collection of unreleased demos by Lou Reed recorded when he was a fledgling singer songwriter, before he led the Velvet Underground.

In her new book, By Hands Now Known, civil rights lawyer and professor Margaret Burnham reports on little-known cases of racial violence in the Jim Crow era, including crimes that went unreported and murderers who were never punished. Over 15 years, the project's researchers have chronicled roughly 1,000 murders.

David Bianculli reviews 11 Minutes, a documentary about the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Writer John Vercher trained in mixed martial arts as a young man. His novel, After the Lights Go Out, centers on a veteran MMA fighter who is experiencing memory loss, severe mood swings and tinnitus. The book is also about the fighter's biracial identity.

Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews Less is Lost by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Andrew Sean Greer.

The FX/Hulu series Reservation Dogs follows four teens on an Oklahoma Indian reservation who are frustrated and alienated, caught between what's left of traditional Native culture on the reservation and the broader pop culture. We talk with co-creator and showrunner Sterlin Harjo about his own upbringing in Indian Territory and how he was inspired by the storytellers in his family.

Ken Tucker reviews some previously unreleased early Lou Reed demos...

Science writer Mary Roach (Stiff, Gulp) explores scenarios where animals are the ones committing "crimes" — and how society deals with it. We talk about bear attacks, drunk elephants, and monkey thieves. Her book is Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.

Justin Chang reviews the Marilyn Monroe biopic, Blonde.

Washington Post reporter Brady Dennis warns our aging infrastructure systems weren't built to withstand the stresses of climate change: "There is a certain amount of suffering that we can't avoid."