Search results for

Eric Clapton once wrote that Robert Johnson's best songs have "never been covered by anyone else, at least not very successfully — because how are you going to do them?" Now the rock guitarist has recorded Me and Mr. Johnson, a CD of the legendary bluesman's works that Clapton calls a labor of love.

The state of the U.S. economy has emerged as the single most important issue among U.S. voters, and the level of job growth in the coming months could help determine whether President Bush is re-elected. But economists disagree over how much influence presidents really have over the economy. Hear NPR's Scott Horsley.

In the new book Against All Enemies, Richard Clarke -- President Bush's former counter-terrorism coordinator -- says the president disregarded his warnings about the threat posed by al Qaeda prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, and tried to push a link to Iraq immediately after. Senior Bush administration officials vigorously deny the allegations. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts.

On March 7, the actor and monologist Spalding Gray was found dead in the East River in New York. Gray, 62, had been missing for two months. His family believes he committed suicide. Gray was best known for his autobiographical monologues, including Swimming to Cambodia, Monster in a Box and It's a Slippery Slope. Over the last 19 years he was a frequent guest on Fresh Air. We listen back to excerpts of his performances and interviews: Swimming to Cambodia (rebroadcast from Aug. 20, 1985), Monster in a Box (rebroadcast from Sept. 21, 1990), Impossible Vacation (from May 8, 1992) and Gray's Anatomy.

When the Three Mile Island nuclear accident happened 25 years ago, social scientist Lonna Malmsheimer and her students recorded the reactions of people living in the area. Those recordings are now being made public for the first time. A report from Rene Gutel of member station WITF in Harrisburg, Pa.

As the United States reports the death of another soldier in Iraq, the head of a visiting U.N. delegation says security must improve if the country is to hold general elections by January. The U.S. military has accepted responsibility for the shooting deaths early this month of two Arabic television reporters, but insists the incident was an accident. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

During World War II, Italian Catholic priest Don Aldo Brunacci helped save more than 200 Jews. Brunacci says the Nazi's brutal Italian campaign actually helped his efforts to save Jews. Last week, Brunacci -- now 90 -- received a humanitarian award at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. He speaks with NPR's Bob Edwards.

Former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton join other prominent Democrats to hail Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry as the party's new leader and pledge to help him win the presidency in November. The fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., pulled in more than $11 million, a record for Democrats. Hear NPR's David Welna.

The national commission examining U.S. counter-terrorism policy prior to the Sept. 11 attacks hears from defense secretaries and secretaries of state from the Clinton and current Bush administrations. The commission's preliminary report says both administrations relied primarily on diplomacy, rather than military force, to counter al Qaeda. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Pam Fessler.

NPR's Steve Inskeep reports on the festivities at the Kurdish New Year celebrations in northern Iraq. They celebrated not only the new year, but an improved economy and the greater freedom they have under Iraq's interim constitution.