In 1939, the great Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein made a splash in Hollywood with the American release of his sweeping historical epic Alexander Nevsky. Then he followed it up in the '40s with the even more sprawling, three-part drama Ivan the Terrible.

To many American movie buffs, these films surely seemed new and exotic, with their colorful Russian settings and dark, psychological undertones. Opera fans, on the other hand, may have recognized the movies as part of a theatrical trend dating back to the previous century.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn had no idea she was becoming the talk of the town until her phone started ringing earlier this week with friends urging her to check out a new campaign ad on YouTube.

Hahn is running to replace former Rep. Jane Harman, who retired from her 36th District seat to head a Washington, D.C., think tank. The runoff election pits Hahn against Tea Party-backed Republican candidate Craig Huey, a local businessman who has reportedly sunk a half-million dollars of his own money into what was expected to be a pretty sleepy campaign.

The rate at which Americans die from cancer continues to fall, according to the latest estimates from the American Cancer Society.

As a result, nearly 900,000 cancer deaths were avoided between 1990 and 2007, the group figures. Survival gains have come as mortality rates have declined for some of the most common malignancies, including colorectal cancer, breast cancer in women and prostate cancer.

Our therapeutic culture is lousy with stories of people struggling to spin childhood traumas into something positive, something that leaves the world a better place than the one that damaged them; but I've never seen a film in which the link between a trauma and its transmutation is as vivid as in Buck.

In Tell Me More's week-long series of essays honoring Father's Day, guests and friends of the program who are dads, and like a dad, have been reflecting on the joys and challenges of fatherhood. Today's last installment comes from Ray Salazar, Chicago teacher and father of two children.

Even the most loving and dedicated parents are sometimes annoyed by children who refuse to go to bed. Adam Mansbach captures that frustration in Go the [Expletive] to Sleep, a colorfully illustrated 'children's book for adults.' Some readers find the book humorous but others may be appalled. Host Michel Martin speaks with Adam Mansbach to learn more about his controversial book and what it means for parents �" especially with Father's Day just around the corner. Note: this conversation references language that listeners may find offensive.

Host Michel Martin and Tell Me More Editorial Assistant Lena Moses-Schmitt comb through listener responses from past stories. A grandfather responds to the program's week-long Father's Day essays, and one listener offers a correction to the conversation with Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuno.

Riots erupted this week in Athens over the Greek government's efforts to deal with its huge debt. The government is debating more budget cuts that are meant to satisfy the European Union. The E.U. is arguing over whether to help Greece with a bailout. The E.U. is an important trading partner to the U.S., and financial failure in Greece can have global ramifications. Host Michel Martin discusses these ramifications with Roben Farzad, senior writer at Bloomberg Businessweek.

The Barbershop guys weigh in on former Rep. Anthony Weiner's resignation, the Republican debate, and why candidate Herman Cain doesn't identify as an African American. Host Michel Martin hears from author Jimi Izrael; civil rights attorney Arsalan Iftikhar, foreign policy analyst and conservative columnist Mario Loyola, and The National Review deputy managing editor Kevin Williamson.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) resigned Thursday after a nearly three-week-long scandal involving lewd photos. Also, rising star Michele Bachmann created a great deal of buzz after the GOP presidential debate. Host Michel Martin discusses this week's politics with Mary Kate Cary, columnist and blogger for US News and World Report, and Michael Fauntroy, professor of public policy at George Mason University.