History

Alan Furst has a new historical spy novel called The Foreign Correspondent. His first one, Night Soldiers, came out in 1988, and he's written eight more since then. Critic at large John Powers, who says he always snaps up a new one, explains Furst's appeal.

Sandy Tolan talks about his book The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East. The account grew out of a 1998 NPR documentary in which Tolan reported on a friendship between a Palestinian man and an Israeli woman that served as an example of the region's fragile history.

The Dixie Chicks are considered the biggest-selling female band in history. Martie Maguire, Emily Robison and Natalie Maines have gone from the bluegrass and country world to wider success with hits such as "Wide Open Spaces" and "Long Time Gone." Now, they are releasing their first CD in three years: Taking the Long Way, a collaboration with rock and rap producer Rick Rubin.

In a new documentary, soldiers on the front lines in Iraq capture their own footage of the experience of war. The War Tapes, directed by Deborah Scranton, opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend.

The film follows three men: Sgt. Steve Pink, Sgt. Zack Bazzi and Spc. Mike Moriarty, members of the National Guard who arrived in Iraq in March 2004.

The new documentary Baghdad ER goes inside the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq, the Army's premier medical facility in Iraq. Shot over two months in 2005, the film tells the stories of the hospital's doctors and wounded soldiers. The film debuted on HBO last week. Filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill discuss their project with Terry Gross.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Army of Shadows, the French film made in 1969 by Jean-Pierre Melville about the French Resistance. It's being released in the U.S. for the first time.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on the recent controversy surrounding the Spanish-language version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Forced out of New Orleans after Katrina hit last year, historian Douglas Brinkley, a professor at Tulane University, soon returned. He helped with rescue efforts and immediately began the task of collecting oral histories of the catastrophe.

The result is his new book, The Great Deluge, which offers a multi-perspective account of the storm and its aftermath. Brinkley is the author of three other historical narratives, including Tour of Duty.

National Guard Lt. Paul Rieckhoff is the founder and executive director of the organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (formerly Operation Truth). One of the group's aims is to see that troops in active duty and veterans are properly provided for.

He has written a memoir about his tour in Iraq shortly after the occupation: Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier's Fight for America from Baghdad to Washington.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Living with War, a new CD by Neil Young that includes the song "Let's Impeach the President." He posted the entire album on his website last week for free. It's now on sale as a CD.

This past week marked the 26th anniversary of the failed rescue attempt of hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for 444 days. We talks with journalist Mark Bowden, author of Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews United 93, the dramatized version of events on the plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after being hijacked Sept. 11. Learning that other planes had been flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, passengers fought back for control of the plane.

Jeff Goldblum recently returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa., to star alongside his new girlfriend in a two-week run of The Music Man. Directors Chris Bradley and Kyle LaBrache filmed Goldblum's escape from celebrity, resulting in a genre-bending documentary with appearances by Ed Begley, Jr., Illeana Douglas and Moby. Goldblum talks about Pittsburgh, which he produced.

Stephen Kinzer has reported from more than 50 countries for The New York Times and has been the paper's bureau chief in Turkey, Germany, and Nicaragua. In his new book, Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq, he writes that in the past 110 years, America has overthrown 14 governments that displeased them for "ideological, political, and economic" reasons.

The most frightening thing the United States could do to Iran, short of attacking it, is to leave Iraq, says New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. The second most frightening thing for Iran, he says, would be a U.S. success in Iraq.

President Bush is an enigmatic leader who uses an insurgent approach in reshaping policy and politics. That idea is central to Rebel in Chief, the new book by political writer Fred Barnes. Barnes is the executive editor of conservative magazine The Weekly Standard.

Danielle Trussoni's just-published memoir is Falling Through the Earth. In the book, Trussoni explores the damaging legacy of her father's military service in Vietnam. Book critic Maureen Corrigan says the memoir is also an unusual testament to the father-daughter bond.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, it also disrupted the education of thousands of students. While many schools remain closed, Benjamin Franklin High School is one of the few operating charter schools in New Orleans. We talk with two teachers.

Louisiana State medical examiner Louis Cataldie was the coroner for the East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana from 1998 to 2003. When Hurricane Katrina hit, Dr. Cataldie helped to evacuate patients and set up field hospitals. He also aided the injured and investigated deaths.

A new book details the scandalous, sensational, partisan press — of the 1700s. Fox News journalist Eric Burns' Infamous Scribblers: the Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism tells the stories.