Jul 8th, 2009 · Book reviewer Alan Cheuse remembers Russian author Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov, who died earlier this week. Aksyonov is known in the West as the author of Generations of Winter, a family saga depicting three generations of the Gradov family between 1925 and 1953.
Apr 1st, 2009 · A scientist and adventurer of legendary endurance, will and bravery, Percy Fawcett set out in 1925 to find the Amazonian city of El Dorado. The Lost City of Z, David Grann's novel-like reconstruction of Percy's quest, thrills both the heart and mind.
Jan 19th, 2009 · The first sound recording of a presidential inauguration was made in 1925. Calvin Coolidge's swearing-in ceremony was one of the first electrical recordings, using microphones and amplifiers to record the sound. Hear excerpts from inaugural addresses of U.S. presidents since then.
Dec 17th, 2007 · When radio ruled the airwaves, Nashville station WSM was a broadcasting powerhouse. Started in 1925, it became a cultural force that shaped the future of Nashville, largely because of its signature program, The Grand Ole Opry.
May 12th, 2007 · Martin Ramirez was diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic soon after he immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1925. During his 30 years in mental institutions, Ramirez produced more than 300 mesmerizing drawings. Much of his work is now on display in a major retrospective at the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan.
Jun 28th, 2006 · In 1925, the Church Hill tunnel caved in while a train was passing through it. At least two workers were killed at the site in southern Virginia, and the locomotive was never recovered. But now there are plans to uncover the site, which has inspired many local legends and mysteries.
Apr 11th, 2006 · The Library of Congress has selected 50 recordings to preserve in the National Recording Registry. It includes a Modesto, Calif., high school band playing Beethoven in 1930, a recording of the first official transatlantic telephone conversation, Calvin Coolidge's 1925 inauguration, and the radio broadcast of the Joe Louis, Max Schmeling fight in 1938. Plus, songs from Stevie Wonder, Sonic Youth, Mahalia Jackson, Jimi Hendrix and Martha and the Vandellas. We speak to Eugene DeAnna, head of the Recorded Sound Division of the Library of Congress.
Oct 7th, 2004 · A just-published New Yorker anthology collects every cartoon the magazine has published since its debut in 1925. The 68,647 cartoons fill a hardcover book and two accompanying CDs -- a single book of the cartoons would fill more than 20,000 pages, according to the publisher.