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His career is filled with highs — radio and television stardom — and lows — scraping by on dog food and obscure gigs in seedy nightclubs. Upon the release of a new book, the great entertainer speaks on all seven decades of his life in show business.

We look at the fraught relationship between NBC's Brian Williams (who has been suspended without pay for six months) and his predecessor, Tom Brokaw.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Wasp Eater, the first novel by William Lychack. Corrigan says the book, about a dysfunctional family splitting up in late '70s Connecticut, succeeds at a small goal: conveying the ordinary sadness of connecting with other human beings.

Rev. William Sloane Coffin, who died Wednesday at the age of 81 of congestive heart failure, was known as a civil rights activist and outspoken critic of the Vietnam War.

Though Williams has been showered with acclaim and awards in the past decade, she spent the first 20 years of her career toiling on music's margins. It wasn't until the late '80s that she began to win over tastemakers and develop her reputation as a go-to songwriter and performer.

Playlist: Bob Dylan "Things Have Changed" The Wonderboy CD single — Bonnie Raitt "Two Lights in the Nighttime" Souls Alike — Taj Mahal "Corrina Corrina" Best Of Taj Mahal — Special Live on World Cafe: Dar Williams "Two Sides of the River" My Better Self

John Williams was already an established composer when he took on Star Wars. That was long ago and far away, in 1976. Nearly 30 years later, he reflects on his role in the making of a cultural milestone.

Tom Hiddleston does his own singing in the story of a country music legend, but the film strains to get its figurative arms around the man's complicated legacy.

In 1954, after several draining decades as a jazz composer, performer and mentor, Mary Lou Williams quit. When she returned, she claimed her true power as one of jazz's fiercest advocates.

In the new film The Night Listener, Robin Williams stars as a late-night radio host who befriends a 14-year-old listener. The film, which co-stars Toni Collette and Rory Culkin, is a psychological thriller based on the novel by Armistead Maupin.

The Library of America has just published the first of a two-volume collection of the novels and stories of the late writer William Maxwell, whose writing voice John Updike once described as "one of the wisest and kindest in American fiction."

Through 16 turbulent and celebrated years leading the pop-punk band Paramore, Williams insisted she'd never make a solo album. Then life showed her that she was a different person than she'd known.

the Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, about the possible ramifications of a recent Counsel on Foreign Relations recommendation that the 1977 ban on using U.S. journalists as CIA cover be reconsidered.

Lucinda Williams' latest album is full of love songs, but they're the kind you might play over and over after an ugly breakup. "I guess you could write a good song if your heart hadn't been broken, but I don't know of anyone whose heart hasn't been broken," Williams tells NPR's Bob Edwards. Hear samples from 'World Without Tears'.

William Cope Moyers is the son of journalist Bill Moyers. He's written a new memoir about his addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine and his recovery. He's been sober for twelve years and is the vice president for external affairs at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. His new memoir is Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption

Former Drug Czar WILLIAM BENNETT. He is currently co-director of the conservative organization "Empower America." In 1981, he was appointed by Ronald Reagan to be Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1985, he became President Reagan's Secretary of Education, and from March of 1989 to November of 1990, he served as President Bush's director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Bennett has written extensively on social and domestic issues and is the author of five books. His latest is "The Book of Virtues: a treasury of Great Moral Stories," a collection of hundreds of stories and poems he hopes will instruct children in "moral literacy."

In this intense performance, you can feel the singer and poet's passion in every sharp, thoughtful, powerful, provocative word.

The singer-songwriter has a magnificent way with words and phrasing, not to mention a country-music lineage that fills her with pride and guides her poignancy and subject matter.

Mecklenburg County commissioners will be sworn in for a new term a special meeting Monday night, where they'll also elect their leadership for the next…

It's been a big day for Serena Williams. First, she started the day by winning her first individual Olympic gold medal. Then she won a chance for another gold in women's doubles, playing with her sister, Venus. The pair defeated the Russian team of Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko.