Places & Travel

Journalist Seymour Hersh reports that a major change in American policy toward Syria is underway. It's part of a broader strategy to bring peace to the Middle East and counter the influence of Iran.

Violence caused by Mexican drug cartels is spilling over the border into the United States. New York Times journalist Randal C. Archibold reports that home invasions and shootings related to the Mexican drug trade are spreading as far north as Canada.

Alejandro Junco de la Vega is the publisher of Mexico's most influential newspaper conglomerate. He discusses the rise of drug-related violence in Mexico and at the Mexican-US border.

The Iraqi heavy-metal band Acrassicauda had problems playing their music under Saddam Hussein, but they didn't get death threats until after the American invasion. Two band members — and the filmmaker who made a documentary about them — talk with Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

In his new book, We Can Have Peace In The Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work, former President Jimmy Carter presents his strategy to end fighting between Israelis and Palestinians.

Journalist Steve Coll says that India and Pakistan held secret talks over the disputed region of Kashmir in 2006, but that tentative plans for peace have since been abandoned due in part to the political decline of Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Matteo Garrone's epic film Gomorrah takes us into the world of the Camorra, an organized crime syndicate based in and around Naples. John Powers has a review.

Atlantic contributing editor Ta-Nehisi Coates describes growing up with a father who was a member of the Black Panthers in his new memoir, The Beautiful Struggle.

The Newsweek journalist writes that the NYPD has become one of the world's best intelligence-gathering operations; his book Securing the City explores New York City's creation of an elite counter-terror force.

Director Kelly Reichardt's new film, Wendy And Lucy, has been described as the "best art-house girl-and-dog story you're ever going to see." Reichardt joins Fresh Air to discuss her work.

Sarah Chayes has been living and working in Afghanistan since she covered the fall of the Taliban government for NPR. She joins Fresh Air to explain how the hard-line religious movement is using both fear and persuasion as it works to once again expand its power in Afghanistan.

James Bobin is the co-creator and director of HBO's series Flight Of The Conchords. He has been nominated for eight Emmys since 2003 for his work on Conchords and Da Ali G Show.

Natasha Trethewey won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for her book Native Guard. Her parents had an interracial marriage while it was still illegal in Mississippi, and Tretheway's poetry often draws on her childhood as a biracial child in the south.

Paul Eisenstein reports from the Detroit Auto Show on the state of the auto industry. Eisenstein has covered cars for over 30 years; he currently reports for the independent news service The Detroit Bureau.

The seventh season of 24 premieres this Sunday. Critic David Bianculli assesses the four-hour, two-night return of counterterrorist Jack Bauer — who's got some new allies, and some new enemies.

Maureen Corrigan reviews Jayne Anne Phillips' Lark & Termite, a novel that weaves together the story of an American soldier fighting (and dying) in Korea in 1950, with that of his family struggling with their loss nine years later.

Journalist James Fallows explores China's recent rise to power and what it means for the US in his new book of essays, Postcards Tomorrow Square.

The film version of John Patrick Shanley play is a heavy slab of dramaturgy: It's dark, somber, yet unbelievably intense. Even on screen, it has the compressed quality of great theater.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new CD of Scott Wheeler's opera, based on a hymn to Boston by the New York poet Kenneth Koch. The disc captures a live performance by the Boston Cecilia choral society.

Critic John Powers says the beautifully shot films of Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke register what's getting lost in China's transformation — and why Jia is one of the most eminent directors of our time.