Terry Gross

New York Times war correspondent Anthony Shadid, a frequent guest on Fresh Air, died Thursday after apparently suffering a fatal asthma attack in Syria, where he was reporting on the political uprising. Fresh Air remembers Shadid with excerpts from his December 2011 appearance on the show.

In this rebroadcast from 2010, the musical theater legend talks about writing the lyrics and music for several of his productions, including the 1981 musical Merrily We Roll Along, which is currently in the middle of a two-week run in New York City.

What's the difference between primaries and caucuses, and why do states have different systems for choosing delegates? Political scientist Josh Putnam explains how delegates are picked, and how the process changed after the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

In What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, Nathan Englander writes about his own faith — and what it means to be Jewish — in stories that explore religious tension, Israeli-American relations and the Holocaust.

As J. Edgar Hoover became increasingly worried about communist threats against America, he instructed the bureau to conduct secret intelligence operations against anyone deemed "subversive." A new book, Enemies: A History of the FBI, details those and other secret intelligence operations from the bureau's creation through the current fight against terrorism.

McKenzie, half of the New Zealand musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, wrote five songs in the recent Muppets movie. "Man or Muppet" is nominated for Best Original Song at this year's Academy Awards.

The actress earned her second Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of a maid in the 1960s-era film The Help. She talks to Fresh Air about why she thinks the character is anything but the cliche some have claimed.

In 2007, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie joined Terry Gross for a discussion about their folk-parody band Flight of the Conchords.

This interview was originally broadcast on June 14, 2007. You can listen to the complete interview with Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie here.

Ameena Matthews is a former gang member who now works to stop retaliatory gang violence in some of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods. She is one of the subjects of a new documentary called The Interrupters.

This interview was originally broadcast on Aug. 1, 2011. The Interrupters will be broadcast on Frontline on Feb. 14, 2012.

The protests that led to the Egyptian revolution last year were organized in part by Wael Ghonim, who used an anonymous Facebook page to coordinate the demonstrations. In his new book, Ghonim explains how social media helped transform his country.