Places & Travel

Ann Patchett's new novel lives up to its name; critic Maureen Corrigan's one-word review: "Wow." Patchett masterfully weaves her story through uncharted geographic and literary territory, all the while unraveling a story about the awful price of love and the terror of its inevitable loss.

The West Bank has yet to see a democracy movement on the level of those sparking dramatic changes in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. It could have a huge effect on the region, were it to happen, says conflict resolution expert Robert Malley.

The Trip, a British comedy featuring two comedians trading their best celebrity impersonations, got critic John Powers thinking about memorable voices from the movies. Famous celebrity voices, he says, are not what they used to be.

Ron Hansen's latest novel, A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion, fictionalizes an infamous crime of sexual transgression. In 1927, Ruth Snyder killed her husband, Albert, after falling in love with a lingerie salesman. Hansen's sexy fictionalization of the real-life murder sizzles with the spirit of the Roaring '20s.

The History Channel star details how he became an expert in customer relations, human behavior, antiques, economics — and spotting fake Rolexes — while running his family's Las Vegas pawn shop.

British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon trade barbs and impressions in the new comedy, The Trip. Coogan, best known for his character Alan Partridge, talks about the improvisational film, which sends the two comedians on a road trip in Northern England.

The third season of HBO's vampire soap True Blood is now out on DVD. TV critic David Bianculli says the show's success proves that vampires -- more than werewolves, zombies or witches -- will turn out to be the most durable media monsters of all.

The director's latest comedy stars Owen Wilson as a time-traveling writer who winds up in Paris, in the 1920s, alongside Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Stein. Critic David Edelstein says Wilson's acting is superb -- and the film recalls Woody Allen's earliest days in film.

William Dodd served four years as the ambassador to Germany before resigning -- after repeated clashes with both Nazi Party officials and the State Department. Erik Larson chronicles Dodd's time in Berlin in his new book, In the Garden of Beasts.

This week, we're listening back to some favorite Fresh Air interviews from the past decade. In 2011, Terry Gross spoke to the creators of South Park about their Broadway hit.

Adam Hochschild's pensive narrative history, To End All Wars, focuses on those who fought -- and also on those who refused. Hochschild is a master at chronicling how prevailing cultural opinion is formed and, less frequently, how it's challenged.

The Pakistani journalist, who has written extensively about the Taliban and al-Quaida, discusses what officials might have known about Osama bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad and what impact his death may have on the future of U.S.-Pakistan relations.

New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright has spent the past 15 years of his career thinking about al-Qaida. Wright assesses what bin Laden's death means for the future of al-Qaida and the United States' relationship with Pakistan.

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza details President Obama's response to the ongoing uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. He explains why the president's actions — in Egypt and then in Libya — say a great deal about the administration's larger foreign policy ideology.

Folksinger Hazel Dickens, a pioneer for women in bluegrass music, died Friday. She was 75. Fresh Air remembers the feminist role model with excerpts from a 1987 interview.

Incendies is a French-Canadian film that was nominated for a 2010 Academy Award. The title translates as "scorched," and the movie tells the brutal story of a woman who lived through her country's civil war. Critic David Edelstein says it's an extraordinary piece of storytelling.

In Mary Gordon's luscious, wistful new novel, two former lovers meet in Rome after not having seen each other for almost 40 years. Book critic Maureen Corrigan praises the book's "undeniable appeal."

Tuesday marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the U.S. Civil War. Historian Adam Goodheart explains how national leaders and ordinary citizens across the country responded to the chaos and uncertainty in 1861: The Civil War Awakening.

Investigative reporter Charles Fishman says the past 100 years have been the golden age of water in the developed world — but now that's about to change. He profiles communities grappling with water shortages and details the efforts to conserve water in The Big Thirst.

Singer-songwriter Brian Carpenter has cited places like Coney Island and the Florida Panhandle as inspiration for his work. On his latest album, Hothouse Stomp, Carpenter musically travels back to the jazz scene in 1920s Harlem and Chicago.