Episode No. 561 features author Helen Langdon and curator Erin Garcia.

Langdon is the author of "Salvator Rosa: Paint and Performance," a new biography of the Renaissance painter and actor. The book explains Rosa's thirst for fame, his philosophical pursuits and how they melded with his painting, his acting career, and the ways in which his desire to be a celebrity often interfered with his ability to accomplish his career goals. The book was published by Reaktion and is distributed in the US by University of Chicago Press. Indiebound and Amazon offer it for $25.

Garcia discusses "Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs," which is at the California Historical Society in San Francisco through August 13. The exhibition offers a CHS collection-driven visual history of the social, political, and judicial disenfranchisement of Chinese Californians -- as well as portrayals of Chinese agency and resilience -- during the Chinese exclusion era.