Dame Judi Dench has played everyone from the writer Iris Murdoch to M in the James Bond films. But among the roles the actress is most closely associated, are Shakespeare's heroines and some of his villians.  

Amongst those roles are the star-crossed lover Juliet, the comical Titania and the tragic Lady Macbeth.  Now she's reflecting on that work, and Shakespeare's work in Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent.

The book is comprised of Dench's conversations with her friend, the actor and director Brendan O'Hea.

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Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

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Hollywood depictions have long helped inform America's understanding of the Vietnam War.

But there was usually one thing missing from these Vietnam War stories: the Vietnamese perspective. 

For Vietnamese Americans, like author Viet Thanh Nguyen, that experience left him feeling confused as a child. 

In his Pulitzer-winning debut novel The Sympathizer, Nguyen filled that gap by telling the story of a Vietnamese double agent who struggled with his involvement in all parts of the conflict. 

And with the release of a new HBO series adapting the story, one question arises: Can The Sympathizer subvert the long-standing narrative on the Vietnam war in Hollywood?

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How 'The Sympathizer' confronts Hollywood's version of the Vietnam War

For American Jews who grew up thinking antisemitism was a thing of the past, the last several years have been startling. White supremacists marched in Charlottesville. A gunman massacred worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Then came the Hamas attacks of October 7th and Israel's war in Gaza.

The Anti-Defamation League says since then, antisemitic incidents in the US are up 361% over the same period a year ago. Both Congress and the White House have tried to address antisemitism in recent weeks, yet there's still a debate about what it is. 

Two journalists, who have been thinking and writing about antisemitism in the U.S. weigh in.

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As antisemitism grows, it is easier to condemn than define

A conservative group posted a social media thread showing flyers in a border encampment in Mexico urging migrants to vote for Joe Biden. Now, the woman caught up in it, speaks to NPR. 

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The migrant aid group caught in a right-wing social media thread

The Girl Scouts have been part of American childhood for generations. And now that quintessential experience is helping young girls, who are new to the United States get a sense of belonging.  It comes through a Girl Scout troop based in one of New York City's largest migrant shelters. 

The shelter has around 3,500 migrants, and all of the Girl Scouts are children of families seeking asylum. For the last few weeks, NPR's Jasmine Garsd has been spending time with them, and brings us their their story.

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How this Girl Scout troop offers community to migrant children

America is a land of contradictions; while we're known as a nation that loves to eat, we also live within a culture that has long valued thinness as the utmost beauty standard.

Over the last several years the body positivity movement has pushed back on that notion. But then came a new class of weight-loss drugs.

New York Magazine contributing writer Samhita Mukhopadhyay grapples with the possible future of a movement like this in her recent article, So Was Body Positivity All A Big Lie?

She joins All Things Considered host Juana Summers to discuss the ever-evolving conversation on health, size, and whose business that is in the first place.

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Judi Dench reflects on a career built around Shakespeare

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