Pediatric neurosurgeon Jay Wellons regularly feels the exhilaration of saving a child from near certain death — and sometimes the anguish of failing to prevent it. He's operated on various parts of the pediatric central nervous system, including performing spine surgery on an in-utero fetus. His memoir is All That Moves Us. (Originally broadcast in 2022)

Justin Chang reviews The Haunted Mansion and Talk to Me.

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If you have any impression of LBJ Vice President Hubert Humphrey, it might be that of an establishment politician who defended an unpopular war in Vietnam and led the Democratic Party to defeat in 1968. But writer Samuel Freedman says the young Hubert Humphrey was a man of true principle and rare talent, fighting bigotry as mayor of Minneapolis, and waging a courageous battle to get the party to embrace civil rights. Freedman's book is Into the Bright Sunshine.

John Powers reviews the new season of the Navajo police drama Dark Winds.

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The legendary crooner, who died July 21, told Terry Gross in 1991 he never got tired of singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco": "I'm very grateful for that song."

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In S.A. Cosby's novel All the Sinners Bleed, a Black sheriff in a Southern town is tracking down a serial killer who preys on Black children. The author spoke with producer Sam Briger about how the story was inspired by the George Floyd uprising, and his own feelings about his Southern identity.

Also, critic Maureen Corrigan reflects on her childhood playing with Barbies.

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"My early '70s New York is dingy and grimy," the Pulitzer Prize-winning author says. Whitehead's new sequel to Harlem Shuffle, Crook Manifesto, centers on crime at every level, from small-time crooks to Harlem's elite.

Later, TV critic David Bianculli reviews two new books about TV.

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Timothy Olyphant is best known for portraying lawmen in cowboy hats. He reprises the role of U.S. marshal Raylan Givens in the eight-part sequel, Justified: City Primeval, based on Elmore Leonard's novel. He also played Sheriff Seth Bullock in Deadwood.

"We won't heal until we make sense of the crack epidemic," Donovan X. Ramsey says. His book, When Crack Was King, examines the drug's destructive path through the Black community.

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We remember classical pianist André Watts, who died last week at the age of 77. He became famous overnight after performing with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic at the age of 16.

Soccer star Megan Rapinoe is playing in her last Women's World Cup this month. She spoke with Terry Gross in 2020 for her memoir, One Life.

Justin Chang reviews Barbie and Oppenheimer.

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The entertainment industry is in upheaval. Streamers are reckoning with not being profitable, and writers and actors are on strike. Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw talks about what viewers can expect.

Maureen Corrigan reviews two summer reads: Do Tell and The Stolen Coast.

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In 2018, Delta airlines unveiled new uniforms made of a synthetic-blend fabric. Soon after, flight attendants began to get sick with rashes, hair loss, and brain fog. Alden Wicker explains how toxic chemicals get in clothes in To Dye For.

Also, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a newly unearthed recording from tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan.

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Olyphant is best known for portraying lawmen in cowboy hats. He reprises the role of U.S. marshal Raylan Givens in the eight-part sequel, Justified: City Primeval, based on Elmore Leonard's novel. He also played Sheriff Seth Bullock in Deadwood.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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