Overheard with Evan Smith

Longtime Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter joins us to discuss the latest in politics, the midterm elections and The Promise: President Obama, Year On...

P. J. O'Rourke was a political satirist when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were still in short pants - and he was angry at the establishment when Sa...

Star food writer Amanda Hesser is a prolific food writer for The NY Times, former food editor of The NY Times Magazine, co-creator of the recipe lover...

Jim Leach became head of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2009, after 30 years in Congress. A Republican, Leach often strayed from the par...

The midterms are behind us and a new political landscape is taking shape. Howard Dean, former Vermont governor, 2004 contender for the Democratic pres...

Sam Tanenhaus is editor of The New York Times Book Review, and his biography of Whittaker Chambers was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the...

Frazier's varied mix of humorous essays, meticulously reported books of non-fiction, and wide-ranging magazine articles, tackle the history of the Gre...

Billy Bradley has been a three-term US Senator, a candidate for the 2000 Democratic nomination, an NBA hall of famer, a Rhodes Scholar, the author of...

Author and activist Michael Pollan's work mixes journalism, environmentalism, animal rights, anthropology, and foodiness. He's become an educator, agi...

PA Governor Ed Rendell leaves public life this month after 8 years as Governor, a stint as the DNC's head and many years in public office before that....

Douglas Brinkley's books explore U.S. history from old times to new, from one end of the country to the other, through profiles of events and people a...

Lawrence Wright's most recent book, The Looming Tower, won a Pulitzer and set the highest possible bar for reporting on our complicated post-9/11 worl...

Singer-songwriter Chely Wright has been named Best New Female Vocalist and one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People. She's also author of a memoir, th...

Matthew Dowd has worked at the heart of American politics for more than 25 years, shaping strategies and campaigns for both Democrats and Republicans....

John Mackey is co-founder & CEO of Whole Foods Market, the largest U.S. natural foods grocer and a growing global presence, with more than 300 stores...

Lawrence Lessig is a celebrated academic, an acclaimed author, and an energetic activist whose great cause is rights and freedoms in the digital spher...

Bill Paxton is a gifted actor whose credits include One False Move, Weird Science and Apollo 13, but legions of wannabe sister wives know him as polyg...

Garrison Keillor is an author, humorist, storyteller and icon of public broadcasting whose weekly radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, has been a par...

Wyatt Cenac's reports for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart have introduced his work to a wide audience. But his work reaches far beyond his role as a f...

Diane Wood is a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judge respected across the political spectrum as an intellectual heavyweight. Twice, she's made Obama...

Calvin Trillin has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1963, and over those many years he's written enough pieces about Texas food and politic...

Gail Collins is a funny and fearless twice-weekly columnist for The New York Times, the first woman ever to serve as the paper's editorial page editor...

Holland Taylor is an award-winning actress, acclaimed for her work on stage, in film and on television, whose one-woman play about the life of former...

Wendy Kopp is founder and CEO of Teach for America, which has recruited the best and brightest college students to become teachers where they're neede...

Harry Shearer is an Emmy and Grammy-nominated actor and writer whose credits include Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and The Simpsons. The Big Uneasy, his...

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a celebrated advocate and activist on behalf of the environment, conservation and responsible stewardship of the planet thro...

Julian Bond is an activist, academic, author and true icon of the civil rights movement. He helped found the SNCC and has led both the Southern Povert...