Search results for

With New York's Times Square set to mark its 100th anniversary this month, writer James Traub releases The Devil’s Playground, the story of how this mercurial district became one of the most famous and exciting places in the world. Hear NPR's Howard Berkes and Traub.

Plans for a $165 million Clinton presidential center are helping spark a construction boom and downtown revitalization in Little Rock, Ark. They've also stirred old partisan sentiments, spurring one group to plan a "Counter Clinton" library. NPR's Greg Allen reports.

A.H. Parker High School in Birmingham, Ala., is a case study in the paradox of integration. Under segregation, the school was a symbol of black pride and a citadel of excellence. Today, it's fallen on hard times, a victim of "bright flight." NPR's Michele Norris reports.

Before there was Saturday Night Live, young comedians including John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Gilda Radner dished up irreverent humor on The National Lampoon Radio Hour.

Police in Switzerland recover two Impressionist paintings stolen from a Zurich, Switzerland, art museum. The paintings were found inside an abandoned car near the museum.

A copy of the Magna Carta was sold at auction Tuesday for $21.3 million to David Rubenstein, who plans to keep it at the National Archives where it's been on display for years. Originally written in 1215, the handwritten English charter limited the power of King John and confirmed the rights of the people under common law.

The Smithsonian's newest museum is dedicated to one of the hemisphere's oldest subjects, the history and culture of Native Americans. NPR's Juan Williams tours the National Museum of the American Indian, which opens in Washington, D.C., in September.

The highlights of Cicely Tyson's life and career tell a story of personal excellence -- and interesting choices. The Oscar-nominated actress is back on the silver screen in two recent films, and talks with NPR's Ed Gordon about balancing her acting career with her active humanitarian efforts.

In February 1860, Abraham Lincoln, an unknown lawyer from the West with no formal education, delivered a speech before a New York audience that transformed him into a serious presidential contender. A new book re-examines the Cooper Union speech credited with propelling Lincoln to the White House. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with scholar Harold Holzer about his new book, Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President.

Trumpeter Steven Bernstein hunts for music that's been overlooked by classic jazz. He does his musical detective work in a back room he calls his "laboratory."