Of the 1.6 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly half are applying for disability benefits. New numbers show that 45 percent of vets are claiming service-related psychological and physical injuries. That's far more than ever before. So why now? Greg Jacob is a combat veteran and the policy director for Service Women's Action Network.

This year's Cannes Film Festival just wrapped up last night, and Sharon Waxman, founder and CEO of TheWrap.com, was there. She reviews this year's biggest films and oddest happenings.

Is war inevitable? That question has been put to professionals from all backgrounds in the new Brian Lehrer Show series "End of War," which questions the conventional wisdom behind explanations for mass violence. Celeste sat down with Brian Lehrer, host of our co-producer WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show," and John Horgan, author of "The End of War," to discuss what – if anything – can be done to stop future wars.

Back in April, we spoke with Lena Dunham, creator and star of the hit series Girls. Since our conversation, Girls has taken off in popularity, but not without its fair share of controversy: the show has been criticized for being too white, too privileged, and too sex driven. But still, the series has been widely lauded for its raw, humorous, and refreshing take on young women living in New York City. 

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss a massacre that took place over the weekend in the Syrian town of Houla. The Syrian government insists that its tanks and artillery were not responsible for attacks that killed at least 90 villagers – including 32 children – but monitors who visited the village after the attacks said they found evidence that the Syrian military fired on civilians. Amr Al Azm, member of the Syrian opposition and professor of history and anthropology at Shawnee State University and Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, react to the latest news from Syria.

It’s Memorial Day, a day that Americans often conflate with Veterans Day. Just to clarify: Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day, was founded just after the Civil War; Veterans Day, once known as Armistice Day, was founded after World War I. Veterans Day is in November; Memorial Day, of course, is the last Monday in May. Kenneth C. Davis, author "Don't Know Much About History," gives a more comprehensive history of the origins and evolution of Memorial Day.

Twenty five years ago, the novel “The Bonfire of the Vanities” was published. Written by Tom Wolfe, the book tells the story of a greedy, white Wall Street trader who accidentally kills a black teenager in the South Bronx, then deliberately flees the scene of the accident. Highlighting issues of class privilege, racism, greed, and politics, the book was a commercial and critical success, and came to define an era in New York City and in America. Journalist and personal finance expert Alvin Hall joins to answer the question: How much has New York changed in 25 years?

In February, we spoke with James Clementi, older brother of Tyler Clementi, about his brother's death and the case that galvanized national concern for suicide among gay teenagers. We revisit the conversation, after just this week, Tyler's roommate, Dharun Ravi, was sentenced to 30 days in jail for his actions.