I suppose its been around four years or so since Johnny Cash died. There have been a few books out, countless articles, a big-name movie that got an Oscar nod or two, all of them claiming to have the inside scoop, the real story on the real Man in Black. None, I repeat, none of them are as surprising as I Walked the Line.

The name on the cover reads Vivian Cash — Johnny’s first wife — but the book is comprised almost entirely of love letters to her, from him. The book traces the rise of their romance, when they met at an ice rink in 1951; his letters while overseas in Germany, during which time he promised her “oceans and oceans of love and devotion,” and encountered alcohol seriously for the first time; and their inevitable downfall, their relationship a victim of Johnny’s increasing fame and substance abuse.

This is a part of Johnny’s life that is routinely glossed over, and as The New York Times points out, the 2005 Cash movie Walk the Line ” presented [Vivian] as a nagging, ever-pregnant obstacle to his storybook romance with June Carter.” Vivian went on record saying once “[there are] people of the Nashville mind-set, who prefer that I be written out of Johnny’s history altogether.” The similarities between that story and this extend only to the names, and the side of Johnny shown here is a fiercely romantic one that is rarely, if ever, acknowledged.

Read The New York Times review of the book here.

“Life is not a fairy tale, and even the most perfect spouse can not be your all-in-all,” says Denise Jackson, wife of country singer Alan Jackson. “We all have our faults, and every adult alive has regrets.”

(Cue Je Ne Regrette Rien.)

Denise’s latest tome It’s All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life touches elaborately details how the pressures of fame contributed to the slow disintegration of her marriage with the country star. He was unfaithful, she was too controlling and neither would give in, so they separated. Some three months later, she had an epiphany: “I just remember driving home and just crying out to Him, and saying I can’t take this anymore,” she told Today’s Ann Curry. “‘I can’t believe You want my family to be apart. But if You do, I just give it all to You. I know You’ll take care of me.’ It wasn’t that things changed immediately. But I had just this sense of peace.”

But things did change, and now the high school sweethearts are together again and closer than ever!

Denise did note warily some moments later, “I’m not saying every marriage should be saved.”

Watch the full interview, in which she reveals who the “Him” in the title really is. And don’t miss Alan performing his newest song, “It’s All About Him”, which he wrote to honor his wife’s book. Aw.

Jazz Great Wynton Marsalis called it “ghetto minstrelsy” while rapper Snoop Dogg said “hip-hop is what makes the world go around”. Some have said that it simply perpetuates countless age-old stereotypes while others insist that hip-hop gives a creative outlet to urban youth. If the genre has done one thing over the course of its twenty plus year existence, it has sparked controversy. Its lyrical content and legitimacy as an art form have been questioned again and again, but those who sing its praises say it is a product of it’s inner-city environment. Regardless of what they say, hip-hop has become one of the most popular genres of music on the planet and shows no signs of waining. It must be on to something…

Michael Eric Dyson certainly thinks so. A Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Dyson has become one of the foremost thinkers of the “hip-hop intelligentsia”, and was voted one of the 100 most influential black Americans by Ebony. His latest project is Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip-Hop, a series of essays that consider some of the pertinent issues surrounding the genre, from its often times profane and sexist lyrical content to the inadvertent self-parody caused by its rampant commercial success. The book also features an intro by Jay-Z and an outro by Nas.

Watch the Today interview, and read the prelude>.

The Clash, which for a number of years enjoyed the title of “the only band that mattered”, has emerged as a lasting symbol of the politics and noise of 1970s punk, and is one of the few bands from that era that still enjoys any sort of cultural relevance. They were the first band to take punk beyond its three chord boundaries, mixing together elements of reggae, rockabilly and R&B into a wholly unique sound that served as an elegant platform for front man Joe Strummer’s highly politicized lyrics. Unfortunately, after dozens of London Calling reissues and hundreds of Rolling Stone and NME retrospectives, many of the details of the band and Strummer’s life have been glossed over or lost. Thank god for Chris Salewicz, a feature writer for NME during the band’s heyday. Some thirty years after the fact, he brings us Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer, a biography that spans the first raucous days of punk to Strummer’s tumultuous, conflicted post-Clash years. Salewicz sat down with NPR recently and discussed one of the central themes of the book: how does a figurehead in an anarchist movement, one that shuns material wealth, deal with commercial success?

Listen to the full interview here.

On a plane ride back from Russia in 1988, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson leaned over to Robin Givens, his wife of less than a year, and informed her quite calmly, “I’m going to kill you and get away with it.” She was pregnant with their first child.

Not long before, Givens had spoken with Barbara Walters and for the first time admitted, publicly and perhaps to herself as well, that yes, Tyson did hit her and yes, she was scared. Now, nearly two decades later, Givens has published a memoir entitled Grace Will Lead Me Home, in which she writes about her relationship with Tyson, the now-famous interview and the decision to get out while she could.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Givens discusses the cycles of domestic violence that have plagued her family for generations, which she believes predisposed her to the situation with Tyson. She also states that, were it not for the love and support she found with her family, she never would have had the strength to do what she did. Grace, she tells the GMA talking head, was her grandmother’s name.

Watch the interview and read a sample chapter.

The only thing most people think of when Phil Spector comes to mind is that hair. Or maybe those boots. Didn’t he kill someone or something? Somebody seems to think so, as Spector currently stands trial for murder, and of all the people watching, Mick Brown is perhaps one of the most anxious. Brown is Spector’s biographer and interviewed the infamous record producer some two months before the alleged killing of actress Lana Clarkson took place. The writer just recently came on NPR to discuss that interview, and the resulting book, Tearing Down the Wall of Sound.

Read the excerpt and listen to the interview, in which Brown plays clips from the last Spector interview, and discusses the current state of the trial.

Actress, comedienne and all-around force-of-nature Amy Sedaris appeared on the Martha Stewart Show to make, of all things, a Lady Baltimore Cake. She also promoted,in a roundabout way her latest book, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, her guide to entertaining, complete with a number of excellent recipes, solid advice and (for when the party really gets going) an appendix of arts and crafts ideas.

Check out the video here and see how Martha handles an oblique masturbation reference.

John Hemingway, grandson of the famous Ernest, recently published a memoir of sorts, Strange Tribe, in which he details the struggles of growing up beneath the mental illness of both his grandfather and parents. More specifically, though, the book deals with Ernest’s relationship with his son, John’s father, Gregory, who at first played into the Hemingway machismo, but later became a cross-dresser, and later still, a transsexual.

The narrative follows Gregory up until his death in 2001 at the Women’s Correctional Facility of the Miami Dade County Jail, and includes a series of unpublished correspondence between father and son.

Hemingway the Youngest sits down with Diane Rehm and discusses one hell of a family life. Listen in.

Last week Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates went head to head on the same stage for the first time in more than 20 years and while most of the tech world was hoping for a total Jerry Springer-style brawl between the two, it just didn’t happen. Instead we got a big “you’re-great-no-you’re-great” love fest.

Alan Deutschman, author of The Second Coming of Steve Jobs and more recently Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life, got a call from The Motley Fool’s Mac Greer to talk about the tussle that never was.

Watch the video here.

When there’s 24 hours to fill with news, everything becomes news. Drew Curtis of Fark.com joins Coast to Coast AM’s Ian Punnett discussing his book derived from the Web site, It’s Not News, It’s Fark, which examines the kind of stories the mass media attempts to pass off as news.

According to Curtis, over the last several years 24-hour news outlets and related Web sites have moved from reporting real news to airing an increasing amount of “goofy” items. “There just isn’t enough stuff to talk about,” he said, citing examples of inane stories that now fill a typical news channel broadcast day.

Listen to the full show or just the interview during the first hour.