Month: June 2025

Moss-Bachrach has won two Emmys for his portrayal of an abrasive and ornery cook/maître d on the FX series The Bear. The show is known for kitchen chaos, but he says the set is calm and well run.

(Image credit: Michael Becker)

Mariska Hargitay has only the vaguest memories of her mother, Jayne Mansfield, the sex-symbol movie star who died in the 1967 crash. Now, Hargitay examines her family history in a new documentary.

Now sit up and let your hips sink back. Feel the ground beneath you, which I’m told has been sold by the federal government to private entities for mineral rights.

A deep dive on gossip. Revolutionary history. A meditation on muscle. A closer look at the color blue. And memoirs galore. There’s something for everyone on this nonfiction summer reading list.

After long days focused on the facts, our newsroom reads a lot of fiction at home. We asked our NPR colleagues what they’ve enjoyed reading so far this year. Here’s what they told us.

How did a streetwear-loving kid from Chicago become Louis Vuitton’s artistic director in Paris? Critic Robin Givhan explores the rise of Virgil Abloh in her new book, Make It Ours.

What was once another shortened way to call a friend “brother,” the word “bruh” is now being used widely, especially by Gen Alpha kids, to address parents, express sadness, frustration, happiness and seemingly everything else under the sun.

(Image credit: Elijah Nouvelage)

There’s one little statistic that seems to have gained a lot of attention recently: the birth rate. With pro-natalist ideas showing up in our culture and politics, Brittany wanted to know: why are people freaking out? Who’s trying to solve the population equation, and how? Brittany is joined by Kelsey Piper, senior writer at Vox, and Gideon Lewis-Kraus, staff writer at The New Yorker, to get into how the birth rate touches every part of our culture – and why we might need to rethink our approach to this stat.

Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour discusses the war between Israel and Iran, potential fallout from U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, and how this may affect Tehran’s authoritarian regime.