The Diane Rehm Show (Interviews)

For the May Readers Review, we chose a work that was shortlisted for this year's Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It's a novella by Denis Johnson titled "Train Dreams." It begins in 1917 in the Idaho panhandle. The central character works the railroads and virgin forests that fueled America's push for economic progress. He experiences tragedy and wonder, and his life echoes the hardship and beauty of a nation on the cusp of radical change. He's quietly heroic, simply by surviving. Diane and her...

"Knowledge is a big subject. Ignorance is bigger...and it is more interesting." These are the words of neuroscientist Stuart Firestein, the chair of Columbia University's biology department. Firestein claims that exploring the unknown is the true engine of science, and says ignorance helps scientists concentrate their research. He compares science to searching for a black cat in a dark room, even though the cat may or may not be in there. Firestein's laboratory investigates the mysteries of...

NATO heads of state are meeting on Sunday and Monday in Chicago against a somber backdrop: American-led efforts to cajole Syria's Bashar al-Assad to step down have failed. The prospect of a nuclear Iran looms large, and concerns are rising over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan amid the ongoing insurgency there. When Barack Obama was elected president, he promised not only to transform America's domestic policies, but also its foreign policy. Yet the Middle East, in particular, remains as...

November's presidential election may seem like its still very much up for grabs, but journalists and pundits are already making their picks and predictions — and they often rely on conventional wisdom. For example, "incumbents always lose if unemployment goes above 9 percent in the days before the election." But conventional wisdom only tells us part of the story. What candidates do and don't do on the campaign trail, and whether they are the incumbent or challenger are also key factors....

Facebook begins trading this morning in one of history's largest initial public offerings. President Obama meets with congressional leaders to seek common ground on the looming debt ceiling battle. The FBI launches a criminal investigation into the $3 billion trading loss at J.P. Morgan Chase. The House of Representatives approves the Violence Against Women Act. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney raises $40 million in one month, nearly matching President Obama. And minorities...

Former presidential candidate John Edwards is on trial for misuse of funds to pay his mistress. We discuss the Edwards case and campaign finance laws with guest host Tom Gjelten of NPR and a panel of experts.

A supply glut and price collapse in natural gas is slowing down the hydraulic fracturing boom in some areas. How market forces, state regulations and health and environmental concerns are shaping development of the Marcellus Shale.

Diane and her guests discuss political paralysis in Greece, a worsening crisis in Spain and a setback for Angela Merkel in Germany. The fate of the euro hangs in the balance as EU finance ministers meet for a high-stakes summit.

Reports of a massive trading blunder at JPMorgan Chase renew debate over new rules for banks. Diane and guests explore what risky bank investments mean for the U.S. economy and ongoing efforts to impose new regulations for the banking industry.

Twin bombs in Syria's capital killed dozens and wounded hundreds of people. U.N. leader Ban Ki Moon warned Syria has only a brief window to avoid civil war. France and Greece voted for socialists in an anti-austerity backlash. Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel continued to defend austerity measures as Europe's only hope in the debt crisis. The CIA and Saudis infiltrated al Qaeda, foiling a bomb against a U.S. bound plane. And Russians protested as Vladimir Putin assumed the presidency...

Last year China announced plans to invest a quarter of a trillion dollars in its aviation industry over the next five years. What coast-to-coast railroads meant for 19th century America, airports mean for China today. More than two-thirds of the new airports under construction today are being built in China - just one of the many signs of the scope of China's ambitions and potential as it hopes to become a new leader in aviation. China's aviation industry is analogous for its modernization...

John Irving's latest novel, "In One Person." is narrated by a young bisexual man named Billy Abbot. As a teenager at a New England all-boys prep school in the 1950s, he has crushes on "the wrong people," including the town's transgendered librarian and the wrestling team's golden boy. In the 1980s, he witnesses the horror of the AIDS epidemic. Throughout his life, he experiences the loneliness of knowing no one person can fully satisfy him. Irving first introduced the term, "sexual suspect"...

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Caro has spent nearly four decades researching and writing about President Lyndon Johnson. His fourth book on the LBJ, "The Passage of Power," follows Johnson from 1958 to 1964. Lyndon Johnson was perhaps the most powerful majority leader of the senate. Yet he found himself virtually irrelevant as vice-president in the Kennedy administration. At perhaps his lowest point, a shot changed everything and Johnson immediately took the reins as the thirty sixth...

In the fictional, 19th century town of Wandernburg, Germany, a mysterious traveler stops for the night on his way from Berlin to Dessau. Expecting to stay for a few days, Hans is drawn in by the cast of eclectic characters he finds: an old organ grinder with a penchant for interpreting dreams, a priest who keeps a diary of his parishioners' sins, and a beautiful, young freethinker who's engaged to a local aristocrat. The forbidden love story of Hans and Sophie defies social expectations, and...

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein join Diane to talk about their new book and why they think Congress has become more partisan and dysfunctional than at any other time in history.