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On a summer afternoon in 1946, in rural Georgia, a white mob killed four young black people in a hail of gunfire. The brutal killings -- the last mass lynching in America -- led to a national outcry. The FBI investigated, but no one was ever convicted of the murders. On Morning Edition, NPR's Renee Montagne interviews Laura Wexler, author of a book that examines the incident.

February is far from Hollywood's biggest month of the year, since the film community is focused on Oscar nominees. New offerings tend to be fluffy. But there are exceptions, such as the British comedy Lawless Hearts, which gives the audiences several angles on each of its characters. NPR's Bob Mondello has a review.

The British rock band Supergrass arrived in 1995 with a mixture of '70s glam-rock, wall-of-sound production and sweet bubblegum refrains. Critic Tom Moon of the Philadelphia Inquirer says the group's fourth release, Life On Other Planets, is more in tune with current trends.

The British electronic group Massive Attack is down to one member, Three-D, for the group's latest release. The new album, 100th Window, is a departure from their beat-heavy records of the past, according to reviewer Charles de Ledesma.

She wasn't quite in a league of her own, but 50 years ago Mamie "Peanut" Johnson was among just a handful of women to play in the Negro Leagues of baseball. In an interview with NPR's Bob Edwards, Johnson says her rejection by a white women's team was the best thing that could have happened to her career.

More than 100 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci are on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It's the first showing of its kind in the United States. NPR's David D'Arcy reports.

A new exhibit at New York's Museum of Modern Art examines the lifelong relationship between Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. It pairs works by the two artists, showing how they influenced each other despite their very different styles. David D'Arcy reports.

A strike by Broadway's musicians union wins supports from actors and stagehands, who pledge to honor the picket lines. Producers are forced to cancel many weekend musicals. The dispute focuses on computerized "virtual orchestras" and efforts to abolish a guaranteed minimum number of live musicians for each show. Jeff Lunden reports.

Ben and Leo Sidran release their new children's CD El Elefante. The collection of original songs is in English and Spanish. Father and son started working together when the son was a child, and the collaboration grew from that. Ben is more jazz influenced; Leo is more pop- and rock-oriented. The two talk about the fun they had creating the music with NPR's Melissa Block.

The family of literary agent Stephen Slesinger demand royalties on the many commerical uses Disney has found for the pudgy bear "Winnie the Pooh" and all of his friends.

Country music's Rose Maddox, who at age 11 embarked on a decades-long singing career, has died. Maddox became a big hit after World War II, touring with her four brothers. Their band was called, Maddox Brothers and Rose. She won a Grammy in 1996 for her CD, $35 And A Dream. Maddox died yesterday of kidney failure. She was 71 years old. NPR's Linda Wertheimer has this remembrance.

Born 200 years ago this week, Russian writer Alexander Pushkin is still admired by millions of Russians today. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy looked to him for inspiration and thought of him as a superior writer. Moussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tschaikovsky all wrote music based on his works. Alex Van Oss has this look at the man who became a legendary 19th century romantic figure who lived hard and died young - fatally wounded in a duel - his third.

The day President Kennedy was assassinated, Bob Schieffer — the future veteran CBS newsman — was still just a young newspaper reporter in Texas. But he got closer to that day's events than he ever would have imagined. In an interview with NPR's Bob Edwards, Schieffer recounts that and other stories in his new book, This Just In. Hear an extended version of the interview.

Biographer Robert Coram calls John Boyd "one of the most important unknown men of our time."

Friday the 13th is the perfect opening day for a movie about luck. And that describes Intacto, a psychological thriller from Spain. NPR film critic Bob Mondello offers a review.

The Internet Archive and the University of Maryland launch such a library, and it's free to anyone with an Internet connection. Kids helped design the library, and they had final say on the books.

Saxophone legend John Coltrane's 1964 recording A Love Supreme is one of the masterworks in the canon of jazz. A new edition includes the only live performance of the complete work. Writer Ashley Kahn, whose new book goes behind the scenes of the landmark album, has an essay on the project.

In New York City, Broadway's 18 musicals shut down as a strike between producers and musicians continues. The dispute -- centered on what the minimum size of musical orchestras should be -- is blamed for about $5 million in lost ticket revenue over the weekend. Jeff Lunden reports.

Malcolm X's diaries, photos, letters and other items -- saved from the auction block last year -- have found a new home at the New York Public Library. The papers of the late civil rights and religious leader "help reconnect the icon with the human being," says Howard Dodson, director of the library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Hear an extended version of his interview with NPR's Bob Edwards and see photos of some of the items.

Choreographer Martha Clarke's dance theater piece Vienna Lusthaus debuted 15 years ago, and recently made a brief return. It's a dreamlike work that draws on Vienna's violent history. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with Clarke about the impact of the performance.

International art experts meeting in Paris say some thefts of ancient artifacts from Iraq museums were made on behalf of smugglers who hired the looters. Among the items stolen or destroyed are tens of thousands of examples of cuneiform -- the world's oldest-known form of writing. Baghdad's Museum of Antiquities housed 100,000 of the tablets, many of which had yet to be studied and translated. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards.

Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg first made a name for himself with horror movies. His remake of The Fly is considered a classic of the genre. But his more recent films take him into more disturbing territory. NPR's Bob Mondello says that's especially true of Spider, starring Ralph Fiennes, which opens today in New York.

Established five years ago in Michigan, the Sphinx Competition encourages young Hispanic and African-American string musicians to get involved in the classical music world. Founder and president Aaron Dworkin says American orchestras lack diversity. Celeste Headlee of member station WDET reports.

A sewing circle made up of refugee women from around the world has been meeting regularly in Portland, Ore., for 3 years. The women gather to share techniques, stories, and support each other as they adjust to life in the U.S. At the latest meeting, in the backroom of a public library, a few of them discussed their feelings about the war in Iraq with NPR's Ketzel Levine.

In the new film Assassination Tango, actor Robert Duvall steps behind the camera as writer and director. Duvall also steps onto the dance floor; he plays an assassin living in Argentina who wants to learn how to tango. NPR's Bob Mondello reports.