The Harpers Ferry ‘Rising’ That Hastened Civil War

On the evening of Oct. 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led 21 men down the road to Harpers Ferry in what is today West Virginia. The plan was to take the town’s federal armory and, ultimately, ignite a nationwide uprising against slavery. The raid failed, but six years later, Brown’s dream was realized and slavery [...]

‘Klitschko’: Brothers And Boxers Who Fight Hard, But Never Each Other

If you think your kids have the potential for major sibling rivalry, consider the Klitschko Brothers, Wladimir and Vitali. They’re the first brothers to hold world boxing titles simultaneously. Director Sebastian Dehnhardt tells their story in a new documentary simply called Klitschko, and they talk about their story with Scott Simon Saturday on Weekend Edition. [...]

Nora Ephron Plays Not My Job

Nora Ephron is an essayist, novelist and an Oscar-nominated writer and director of the kind of romantic comedies you don’t have to be ashamed to love. Her films include When Harry Met Sally, Silkwood, Sleepless in Seattle and Julie and Julia, and her latest book is I Remember Nothing. We’ve invited Ephron to play a [...]

Pill Or Candy? Can You Guess Which Of These Is Medicine?

I couldn’t let the week pass without a quick quiz. Which one of the four red tablets in the picture is medicine? The mystery pill is Coricidin HPB, an over-the-counter cold remedy, if that helps. The candies are M&M’s and a Skittle. Pull the slider to the right for the answer. If you didn’t get [...]

Tunisian Poll To Provide Bellwether For Arab Spring

Tunisians, who touched off the Arab uprisings and rid themselves of a dictator nine months ago, are now going to the polls to elect a constitutional assembly. There is pride, confusion, but mostly optimism ahead of Sunday’s vote. The people of Tunisia had basically one choice at the ballot box for the last 50 years. [...]

Murdoch Confronts Critics At News Corp. Meeting

News Corp. held its first shareholder meeting since a phone-hacking scandal in the U.K. led the company to close a major tabloid. Outside the meeting Friday at Fox Studios in Los Angeles, about 100 protesters assembled to condemn the Murdochs and News Corp.’s leadership. But the complaints that followed inside were far more specific. There [...]

Sen. Marco Rubio Denies Embellishing His Background As A Cuban Exile

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Friday lambasted the Washington Post for an article claiming that he “embellished” the facts of his parents’ emigration to the U.S.. The story, published Thursday, alleged that Rubio, a freshman lawmaker widely considered a potential vice-presidential prospect in 2012, falsely portrays his parents as exiles driven from their native Cuba [...]

Bachmann Once Prosecuted Tax Evaders For The IRS

Fifth in a series Perhaps more than any other Republican running for president this year, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has railed against taxes. She says they’re too high, and that the current tax code should be repealed. But Bachmann had a somewhat surprising early career: going after tax evaders as a prosecutor for the Internal [...]

New Poll: Cain Leads In Iowa, Romney Second, Rest Of Field Lagging

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has begun showing more interest on the ground in Iowa. Rep. Michele Bachmann has staked the future of her campaign on a strong showing in the state’s Jan. 3 GOP presidential caucuses. But it’s Herman Cain, the surging former pizza executive, who appears to be capturing the imagination of Hawkeye [...]

Israel’s Oz On ‘Village Life’ And Unhappy Endings

Israeli writer Amos Oz calls his latest book a novel in stories. Set in the fictional Israeli village of Tel Ilan, Scenes from Village Life consists of a string of interconnected tales in which the mundane routines of village life belie the fractured nature of the characters’ lives. In one story, the mayor’s wife splits [...]