amna: -- >> geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: i'm amna nawaz . on the newshour tonight. israel and hamas release more people held, in a sixth day of exchanges, while negotiators work to extend the pause in fighting. geoff: congress wrangles over funding for israel, ukraine, and the southern border with a

rapidly closing window to work out a deal. bangkok, thailand and other southeast asian cities face an existential crisis, as they sink into the ocean. >> we grew like rapidly without even thinking about many capacities and sustainable urban planning. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. ♪ >> moving our economy for 160

years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. >> the walton family foundation, working for solutions so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour.

tonight, mediators in the israel-hamas war are working to win another extension of a six-day-old pause in fighting. the current temporary ceasefire ends early tomorrow. geoff: israel says it's willing to continue the ceasefire if hamas keeps releasing hostages. but prime minister benjamin netanyahu also reaffirmed today his commitment to continue the war and seek the destruction of the terrorist group. >> in the last few days i hear a question. if after this phase of returning our abductees is exhausted, will israel return to fighting? so, my answer is an unequivocally yes. there is no chance that we won't resume the fighting until the end. amna: meantime, hamas released 10 more israeli hostages, including one with american citizenship. president biden confirmed she is now safe in egypt. in addition, hamas freed two russians and four thai nationals, who were driven into egypt. israel was also releasing 30 palestinians from jail, including 16 minors and 14 women. hamas also claimed the youngest

hostage, ten-month-old kfir bibas, was killed in an israeli bombing before the ceasefire. the group said the child's four-year-old brother and mother also died. the israeli military said it's investigating the claim. geoff: in the west bank palestinian health officials said is really troops killed two young boys during a raid. they were identified as an eight-year-old and a 15-year-old. the israeli military did not confirm the shooting but did say troops killed two islamic jihad militants in a separate incident. let's turn to aaron david miller, senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace and a longtime state department official in democratic and republican administrations. talks are ongoing to extend the pause in fighting to allow for the release of more hostages and palestinians held by israel.

what are the prospects for another extension and what might it yield? >> from the israeli perspective, the netanyahu government has no choice but to play hamas's game. if hamas has additional women and children, perhaps a number in the city of 20, the israelis are prepared to continue the hostage for prisoner release. and diplomats, americans, egyptians, are still working perhaps on a broader set of exchanges that could involve adult males and females, reserve military, and active duty military at is holding. -- that hamas is holding. it serves the interest of hamas and israel if you can create a predictable, reliable channel to continue the hostage for prisoner exchange.

at played out. >> the military personnel being held hostage, the men young enough to be called for military service, hamas has said it will demand a higher price. what might that be? >> if past is prologue it is another asymmetrical trade. 1985 and 2011, 2011 in particular, it took six years to produce it in 2011, the israelis traded 1079 palestinian prisoners in israeli jails. i do not know what the ratio would be, but it would be another asymmetrical trade. i am not sure the israelis are willing depending on hamas conditions to play that game. part of the problem is these hostages are not all controlled by hamas. palestinian islamic jihad has some. if reports are true some of these families were taken

hostage to be traded for money or some other bargain. geoff: prime minister netanyahu is adamant fighting will resume. is there any universe in which short-term extensions could lead to a longer-term cease-fire to bring this war to a close? >> the chances of that are absolutely zero. that would hand hamas an extraordinary victory. to have survived this onslaught, to get palestinian prisoners in the process, to pull off the largest terrorist attack on the ground the state of israel, should such a cease-fire be proposed, i doubt the israelis will accept it. right now america's key ally in the biden administration does not seem to be interested in it either.

i think the ground campaign in some fashion, the biden administration can have an impact in reshaping what the israelis plan to do in gaza to try to minimize the tragic deaths of -- the exponential deaths of palestinians that we are seeing and the destruction in northern gaza. geoff: israel's goal of rooting out hamas, what does the mission look like? >> if the war stopped today the israelis would have failed. hamas's military structure, its leadership remains intact. even northern gaza where the israelis have operated, there is still a hamas presence. the israeli objective, eradication of hamas, killing all of its senior leadership, what israelis intend is that there will not be a residual

hamas presence and hamas will not survive in some fashion or form even as a political movement. that probably is not achievable. the cost is an issue and so is the amount of time the israelis would have to spend. we are talking not weeks, but months. we are talking about eradication strategy. i am not sure it is achievable. one final point, they are not going to eliminate hamas as an organization. it is the embodiment of an idea and that idea is the destruction of israel and the creation of an islamic state. that idea is likely going to live on in the minds of too many palestinians who right now, an entire generation is going to be shaped by this war and traumatized. not to mention the israelis. it does not mean much hope or promise for the emergence of

leaders on either side to turn this parade of horrors into something you and i would consider an equitable resolution of the israeli-palestinian conflict. we are much farther from that point in the week of october 7 i am afraid. geoff: thank you as always for your insights. stephanie: i am stephanie sy with newshour west. new tonight, one of the most influential statesmen in american history, henry kissinger, has died. kissinger served dual roles in the nixon and ford administrations as secretary of state and national security advisor. with his pragmatic, and critics would argue a moral approach, he took the country's biggest diplomatic challenges head on. his signature back channel

diplomacy laid the groundwork for detente with the soviet union and open relations with communist china. in the later years of the vietnam war he was an architect of u.s. military strategy. kissinger may have won a nobel peace prize in 1973 for secretly negotiating an end to that war but he was branded by his harshest critics as a war criminal. henry kissinger was 100 years old. we will have a fuller accounting of his life online and on tomorrow's newshour. in other news senate majority leader chuck schumer warned against letting criticism of israel's actions in gaza fuel antisemitism. schumer gave an impassioned speech on the senate floor saying he felt responsibility to use his platform. >> all jewish americans carry in them the scar tissue of this generational trauma and that directly informs how we are experiencing and processing the rhetoric of today. the vitriol against israel in the wake of october 7 is all too

often crossing the line into brazen and widespread anti semitism. stephanie: schumer also published an opinion piece in the new york times in which he called the rise of anti-semitism a five-alarm fire. former first lady rosalynn carter has been laid to rest after a funeral service in the carters' hometown of plains, georgia. maranatha baptist church was filled with close friends and family, including former president carter, now 99 and in frail condition. grandson josh carter praised mrs. carter's life-long focus on improving people's lives. quick she worked with everybody from world leaders, to people living on less than one dollar a day. and when she told us stories about the work that she would do she'd only ever focus on the people. on humanity. everywhere she went, she would tell us the people were just as smart and just as capable as she was. stephanie: mrs. carter's burial

site is in view of the home where the former president still lives, now in hospice care. the justice department has charged an indian national with plotting to assassinate an american citizen in new york earlier this year. the indictment alleges an indian government employee authorize the killing of an activist who advocates for the independence of punjab state, home to a large number of sikhs. canada accused india of being behind the killing of a separatist in june. still to come we speak to the families of the palestinian students shot in vermont. how the voting rights act could reshape the political landscape and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from wbt a studios -- weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

>> members of congress face a pivotal decision on whether to greenlight more aid. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins spent the day on capitol hill where a deal could hinge on u.s. border funding. lisa, good to see you. hope is understand, how are aid to israel and ukraine tied to what is happening at the u.s. southern border? lisa: there are two ways these things are tied together. one is from current president biden himself and his proposal for national security funding. the emergency request he has, let's look at what he has requested. ukraine with the biggest request , $60 billion. israel, $14 billion. the u.s. border, another $13 billion. already he is saying i want these things together. politically essentially he is saying i want these ukraine, money for our allies, but also i understand there is need for work on our own border.

the other reason this is tied together his timing. ukraine and israel both need funding now. they are running out of time. republicans realize there are not that many must pass bills left this year. they want border security so they are also pushing for border security to be part of any package for israel and ukraine. amna: let's drill down on the border. what is on the table? >> the last day has really been quite wild. there is a small group of u.s. senators trying to forge a compromise. it gets very technical to explain this but i want people to understand two concepts we have in terms of border talks. you talk about this before. parole is temporary and emergency, allowing people into this country for brief periods of time. the other is asylum, which is permanent. both things are things republicans want to limit.

i asked speaker johnson about this today. how important is it? are there red lines for border security to get ukraine and israel money? i want you to listen to his answer for what priority he has for that money. >> people are deeply concerned about their safety and security and all the things, all the societal ills that happen at the border. so that is a top priority for us in all these negotiations to get that secured. and we need policy changes, not just further funding to process people. lisa: now listen a few hours later to a senate news conference i was at. this is senator roger marshall, how he puts it, how he thinks border funding should be involved. >> my priorities one two and three are the border, the border and the border. unless there is meaningful reform that secures our border, we are not going to vote for cloture on any type of supplemental legislation unless it includes border security.

lisa: in other words border security or nothing. amna: what about aid to israel and ukraine? lisa: israel, there is a difficult discussion democrats are having over whether there should be conditions. perhaps limiting the way israel uses some weapons that america funds, protecting civilians somehow codified. also in ukraine there are calls from republicans for more checks on spending. for both there are questions about how much should we give and for how long? what kind of limits are there? those are difficult discussions. amna: what is the timeline? lisa: let's look at the calendar. on the verge of december this is the timeline we are looking at. this is when the senate is hoping to have a vote on some foreign aid and border bill, maybe next week. look at the calendar for this year. congress is only in session next week and the week following it. it is really hard to do, to see

how they get this done. hope springs eternal. there has to be a deal essentially this week. walking from the capital tonight it seems they are farther away. senator chris murphy said having a bipartisan compromise on guns was a cakewalk compared to what he's talking about now. amna: does not look good. you have been following this other story about congressman george santos. will the house vote to expel him? lisa: it looks like it but it is not clear yet. mr. santos is having a news conference tomorrow. he has said he will not resign. it is not clear the votes are there. it takes a two thirds vote to expel him. a majority wants to expel him. the vote could happen as soon as tomorrow but the latest was they were leaning toward friday. it is going to be something we watch very closely. amna: a lot happening. lisa desjardins, always great to see you. lisa: you to.

geoff: now we turn to the aftermath of the shooting this past weekend in burlington, vermont. a white man shot three young men of palestinian descent. the attack has stirred fears of rising islamophobia and anti-arab hatred. liam brangham spoke with two of the young men's mothers. >> saturday night, these three college students, tahseen ali ahmad, kinnan abdalhamid, and hisham awartani, were shot by a stranger. the attacker has been charged with three counts of attempted murder. earlier today i spoke with hisham awartani's mother who had just arrived from her home in the west bank, and with kinnan abdalhamid's mother who had just arrived from her home in jerusalem. thank you for joining us today. i would love to hear both how

your sons are doing right now. how is kinnan? >> he is doing all right. he was discharged the day before yesterday. yesterday actually. i was able to speak to his er doctor by phone. the hospital has been amazing in giving us information. the bullet the defendant hit kinnan with grazed his right glute. it did not penetrate deeply. he was incredibly lucky. he is however in a lot of pain. the adrenaline of all of this has subsided so he is having trouble sleeping. i am very anxious to get to him because i have a feeling he's not just having trouble sleeping because of pain but because of trauma. i am quite concerned for him.

otherwise he was incredibly lucky and he sits with a lot of concern for his friends that are still emma, hospital. -- still in the hospital. reporter: and what is the latest with hisham's situation? >> he has sensation in his legs but cannot move them. the bullet hit his clavicle. if it had not, it may as well have plowed through his spine and killed him. we are so grateful they are alive. we are so thankful. it makes such a difference. we are going to go see them, we are going to be with them, they are going to get sick of us. i do not know if i will let go for a while. it was a hair's breadth away from death. i believe in my son.

i believe he will be able to walk again. you cannot bring a child back from death. reporter: as the country has focused on this tragedy that fell to your sons, everyone has been seeing these photographs of them as little boys knowing each other. obviously for many years. can you tell us about the relationship between these three young men? >> sure. hisham and kinnan in particular have grown up together. elizabeth was -- elizabeth and i were pregnant very close in time. we were friends first and the babies were born being friends because quite frankly they had no choice. we were always hanging out so the boys were hanging out. they will tell you if you ask them that they are more brothers than they are friends.

the third boy that was with them is very close to them as well. he met them when they were in fourth grade. the three of them are very like-minded. they are the kind of boys that spend hours and hours together huddled with their heads together in a room just talking about everything. science, astronomy, playing chess. they really grew up -- >> as an inseparable team. reporter: the night of the attack the boys were walking down a quiet residential street to dinner at a family's house when their attacker approached them, said nothing, and open fire. >> he came up the property and approached them. they stood to the side to let him pass since they were probably walking in a ro. he pulled out his gun, did not say a word, shot them. kinnan was able to fully -- able

to flee. the men continued to shoot while he was fleeing. hisham and his friend fell to the ground. he said he did not know he had been shot. he pulled his phone out of his pocket with blood on it and his friend was lying next to him screaming like on pain. hisham called 911. the emt came. reporter: kinnan ran down the street. >> he thought his friends were dead and he was picked up by an emt. in the amulet he said to the emt, i am an emt and i could have saved my friends. he thought his friends were dead. whereas her family thought kinnan was dead. you can understand the trauma. >> i cannot imagine having to go

through that experience and fearing for your friends and not being certain of what happened to them. as you know, there is still no stated motive for this attack. you both clearly believe your sons were targeted because they are palestinian. is that correct? >> i do not know, i cannot get into the assailant's mind. but i can say two of the three of them were wearing the traditional keffiyah. and they were speaking a mix of arabic and english. many palestinians and other supporters of the palestinian people are wearing the keffiyah to recognize and be in

solidarity with those who are suffering in gaza. i find it difficult to believe this was completely random. i can say further that if our boys looked like the assailant, spoke like him, were dressed exactly like him, i have a hard time believing the shooting would have happened. in all cases, this was motivated by hate. no one can do an act like this that is not entirely fueled by hate. >> i do not think they are surprised by what happened. they have been on edge and felt like they have been targeted. they have seen targeting, the killing of that young boy a few weeks ago in october. there is a context of which this crime happened. it was a hate-driven crime.

he did something so hateful to young men he had no contact with before. it was a vicious attack on them based on how he perceived their identities. reporter: thank you both so much and we are wishing you a wonderful reunion with your sons later today. >> looking forward to it erie we are going to hold them and not let go. -- looking forward to it. we are going to hold them and not let go. amna: coastal cities in southeast asia including bangkok, jakarta and manila face a mutually risky future: they're sinking as sea levels around them are rising. fred de sam lazaro has our report from thailand.

>> 30 miles from thailand's capital sits a temple on a small spit of land. the only way in is to walk or pitch a ride with a motorcyclist on a narrow concrete footbridge. over my shoulder are 2.5 miles of what is today the gulf of thailand. as recently as the mid-1990's, this was a village. a community leader traced the lines of what were once power poles marking roads which once connected houses, farms, and markets in a thriving fishing village. >> the soil here erodes by 1.5 to two inches every year. people have had to move houses six or seven times because the water has kept coming. >> a 50-year-old here has been fishing since he was 10. >> there's been a decline in mangrove forest which has led to

species of shellfish disappearing almost entirely. reporter: slowly he says the buffer zone that shielded the capital from the worst is eroding. >> bangkok has a natural reservoir for water. if the water comes in it is very hard for it to get out. if there is flooding in places like -- are no longer around, the water could stay in bangkok for months. >> thailand's capital was moved here 240 years ago on the banks of the chao phraya river. lifeblood takers of rice patties. at the time, they lifeblood of the economy. today this dense concrete mega-city of 10 million residents is sinking at a rate of two thirds of an inch every year. during high tide after flooding events, the river has risen nearly 10 feet above sea level. >> am i worried? yes. reporter: until recently, he was

thailand's minister of natural resources and environment. i met him in his high-rise office. >> we might be sitting at sea level here on the 20th floor. reporter: many who live at street level already know what that is like. >> it is impossible to live here if you do not have a two-story house. reporter: a 65-year-old retired soldier lives on a canal of a cronies bangkok. -- canal in east bangkok. >> we just let it flood. >> the 2011 floods, the worst in half-century, inundated the city for almost three months. more than 800 people died and it cost the economy 40 billion u.s. dollars in factory shutdowns.

thailand is a major manufacturer serving global supply chains. the government has built new floodgates to hold the water at bay in of future flood. even the former minister is skeptical. >> i do not think it is adequate. reporter: despite the high stakes he says the sense of urgency has waned as memories fade of the 2011 floods. >> some of the infrastructure has been developed since 2011. unfortunately not many people are really concerned or realize the magnitude of the problem. one with multiple causes. >> rising sea levels are one factor causing the thai capital to sink. new high-rises have drained groundwater levels and many canals drained into the seat have been paved over.

>> we have grown rapidly without thinking about capacity and sustainable urban planning. we are very addicted to growth. we still want to grow more. reporter: a landscape architect who runs a social enterprise working to increase resilience in her hometown says in recent decades the city has lost nearly half of its net worth of -- network of 3000 canals that drain into the seat. >> water is life to our culture. when you develop the city without concerning the benefit of the natural infrastructure, you shift to roads, you have to drive more, you have to build more. reporter: she is working to build more climate firmly city. her hallmark design is centenary park opened six years ago.

a vast green space in the middle of the city. created to harness gravity, the park collect and holds water in an underground reservoir reducing flood risk. dry periods, up to one million gallons is available for watering. another project is this canal park above a major canal now reconnected to freshwater to nourish greenery on parkland. many waterways like this one had been disconnected from the canal network leaving it stagnant and polluted. >> it is in the heart of the city. it is the two main canals that connect to the river. reporter: people moved here migrating from rural areas. >> yes. reporter: she took us to a community that was among the hardest hit in the 2011 flood. >> we need people to serve the cities. but it is so expensive to commute.

reporter: her group is working with community leaders to re-house families displaced as authorities plan to widen canals to move floodwaters through faster. she would like to see more green space ideas, not more concrete, to mitigate the impact of bangkok's concrete engine. -- concrete binge. >> we can live in the wet season and dry season. it is not about destroying it. work with the concrete. reporter: are you optimistic something will happen in time? or you think you are going to lose a lot of the city? >> i know something will happen. it is a matter of when. it is not a choice. shall we do it or not? reporter: not far from the bustling metropolis, in the once upon a time village, a large

statue stands on the concrete platform facing the sea, hands outstretched as if holding back the tide. for the pbs newshour. amna: fred's reporting is a partnership with the under told stories project. geoff: legal challenges regarding voting rights from georgia to arkansas could alter the nation's political landscape ahead of the 2024 elections. laura perrone lopez has a closer look. reporter: a special legislative session began to redraw congressional and state district maps. lawmakers are beginning the work after a federal judge ruled george's current maps violate the voting rights act by diluting the power of black voters. last week the eighth circuit

federal appeals court issued a ruling that could get a key section of the voting rights -- gut a key section of the voting rights act. it could roll back decades of enforcement that protected minority representation. joining me now is the president of the naacp legal defense fund. thank you for being here. i wanted to start by asking, what could the impact of this eighth circuit appeals ruling be beyond its effect on redistricting? >> the impact could be extraordinarily corrosive to our entire electoral system. what it means effectively is that after almost 60 years of voters and civil rights groups and other advocates being able to bring lawsuits directly in federal court to make sure

voters are not discriminated against based on their race, that they will no longer be able to do so. that could easily provide a welcome mat for even more voter suppression and racial discrimination in our electoral process. the consequences are grave. it is something we are deeply concerned about. laura: and this could apply beyond redistricting maps but also to where polling places are located. correct? >> that is right. it applies to every aspect of voting. what section two of the voting rights act does, which was the portion of that legislation that was unfortunately halted in many parts of -- all of the eighth circuit and the states covered by the eighth circuit, it covers every possible voting practice or procedure. that means registration. that means the location of polling sites. that means how you draw district lines for congressional, state, and local bodies that govern our

population. there are many vast consequences from this ruling in the states that are covered by the eighth circuit. >> the american civil liberties union told me they plan to file a petition for the full eighth circuit to hear this case. in this ruling, judges said the actual wording of the voting rights act section two only allows the attorney general of the justice department to bring these lawsuits. what is your response? >> it defies logic, defies reason, and defies the legislative history of the voting rights act of its entirety. it also defies the purpose of section two which is to ensure that voters have an ability to vindicate their rights. it is important to note that this is such an aberrant decision. it is a three-judge panel but

only two of the three judges agree to, which is unfortunately enough to halt the use of this portion of the statute by voters and their advocates. but this is not a normal decision. this upends nearly six decades of critical precedent allowing voters to vindicate their rights when they are discriminated against on account of race. laura: unlike that eighth circuit ruling, a federal court ruled that georgia did violate section two of the voting rights act and that means georgia is now going to be adding new majority black districts that will be added across the political map. that includes one congressional district, two state senate districts, and five state house districts. what does this change mean for black voters? >> it means black voters will have a fair shot at being able to elect candidates of their choice. it means black voters will no

longer suffer from being manipulated bipartisan actors or actors who have a nefarious purpose as they think about how they draw lines for congress, state legislatures, local power. what it does is level the playing field for all voters. and it makes our entire election process much fairer. and it makes our governing bodies free of racial discrimination. right now the way the lines are drawn it means the entire congress is infected by these racially discriminatory congressional districts. laura: with the 30 seconds we have left, when you look at the supreme court upholding section two earlier this year but also continued challenges to section two from republicans across the country, what is the pattern you are seeing? >> i am pleased with what the supreme court did when it ruled last term.

it was very clear section two is very viable in combating racial discrimination in redistricting. i have full faith and the supreme court will uphold its prior precedent and find that voters and their advocates can bring lawsuits to combat racial this criminal and voting in federal courts -- combat racial discrimination in federal courts. amna: we will be back shortly to explore a new art exhibit that displays the masterful and complex portraiture of pager john singer sargent. geoff: now, how to support your local station to keep programs like this one on the air.

for those of you staying with us we get an on her for my dynamic usable group. while the pandemic caused heartbreak for millions, it also provided a chance for some artists to re-set. william brangham spent time with the musicians behind the tedeschi trucks ban who credit their time in lockdown, plus a centuries-old poem, with not only opening new creative paths, but with fusing their band even more tightly. >> in the world of musical marriages there is none quite like this one. susan tedeschi and derek trucks.

before joining together musically, they each had successful solo careers. ♪ feeling kind of lonely ♪ reporter: susan's first major label record, now being reissued for its 25th anniversary, went gold, rare for a debut blues album. ♪ derek is considered one of the greatest living blues guitarists. he began touring at age 12. the sneaker clad prodigy talented enough to take on eric clapton's layla. at 20 he joined the allman brothers and played with them for over a decade. >> there is an osprey nest here. reporter: after years of passing

each other on the road, they met, fell in love and started a life together. >> pregnancy and marriage. >> we bought the house first. we bought the house, then we got pregnant, then we got married. then we did a band. reporter: that is really a scramble. >> yeah. reporter: their 2010 debut went gold, won the grammy for best blues record, and launched a new chapter. their band including horns, double drummers, and keyboards, recorded a string of records and spent 10 years touring the globe. by any measure, they were a success, but it was draining. then when a band member died of a heart condition, the man trucks called the beating heart of the band, they began to reassess. >> the main story we are

following, the coronavirus pandemic. reporter: then came the pandemic and subsequent lockdown that brought life to a standstill. >> for us in a lot of ways the pandemic saved our band. we were at a point where we were about to take time off to deal with the loss and reset and think about what we wanted to do. it was a hard reset for us. ♪ reporter: a long band member mike mattison says. >> it was a tough period. the tank was low. we had been touring hard for over a decade. we had to change what we wanted to achieve. what we realized was we had not said what we wanted to say. reporter: so mattison had an idea. during lockdown everyone would read the 12th-century persian

poem -- an arab romeo and juliet story about lovers kept apart by a male-dominated society. he wanders the wilderness going mad, she gets locked in the tower and forced to marry another man. >> i thought i would be shunned for being a nerd. now we have homework, you know. >> exactly. reporter: mid pandemic, the band gathered and began writing. an enormous number of songs poured out. alterable band members contributed ideas. some but not all touched on themes from the pandemic. >> one of the big takeaways leave reading that story, micah loose to this in tunes he wrote

-- micah alludes to this in tunes he wrote. a relationship does not just affect the people in the relationship. it can spill out in positive ways or negative ways. what we see in our situation, it is true. >> i see it as a woman in all the things going on in the world, trying to stand up and have a voice a different way now. even though women are more vocal that does not mean our rights are more equal. it is interesting. there are a lot of things that have not changed. obviously in america we are much better off but there are countries in the world that are just like that. ♪ reporter: it was a remarkably fruitful period. the band recorded four albums and released them sequentially. i am the moon volumes one through four. each with accompanying films by director alex lambert. ♪

the band continues their tour. 12 members strong. they are playing music inspired by a centuries-old poem. but in this one, the couple made it and the woman is not locked in a tower but center stage. for the pbs newshour, william brangham in wilmington, north carolina. geoff: the great painter john singer sargent, an american ex-pat, is the subject of a new

show at boston's museum of fine arts, the only u.s. location before moving to london. it reveals much about his methods and why his work remains relevant 100 years later. special correspondent jared bowen of gbh boston reports for our arts and culture series, canvas. reporter: painter john singer sargent had a way. a way of rendering the architecture of an arm, a splaying of the fingers or an elevation of the chin so that we could know exactly what he saw inside and out. >> there's some people who recalled that they saw a little bit too much and that was a little bit nervous making to go sit for sargent. reporter: sargent was an american artist who became the darling painter of the upper classes on both sides of the atlantic from the late 1800s through the turn of the century. his sitters had noble lineages and cascading jewels. and paid six-figures, in today's money, for the privilege of being painted by him. >> he decided how they were

going to pose, what they would wear in many cases and the backdrop and setting. reporter: erica hirshler is the curator of fashioned by sargent, a new exhibition at the museum of fine arts, boston that follows the threads of sargent's process, even reuniting portraits with the original garments his sitters wore. like this opera cloak enveloping lady sassoon. >> he takes it and he pulls it across her body and he turns out the lapel so that you get this great swoop of pink satin across her body. and it makes for a much more interesting painting. reporter: while the society portraits may have been sargent's bread and butter, his true nourishment came from society's fringes. he relished painting bohemian poets, playwrights and musicians. he loved the performing arts. and here sargent was as drawn to dame ellen terry as lady macbeth as he was to her costume. >> the costume is covered with

beetle wings which reflect the light and sort of shimmer blue-green. and the excitement of being able to paint something that was so unusual appealed to him. >> i think there's a lot of sargent's biography lurking in these paintings. reporter: paul fisher is a wellesley college american studies professor and author of the recent sargent biography the grand affair. far from the gilded age drawing rooms, he says the painter was also drawn to the transgressors and had the daring to paint them. and all at a time, not unlike today, when society was publicly wrestling with gender fluidity. >> newspapers of the time often described this as the maladie du siecle, the illness of the century. women were out and about. men were seen as more complicated, maybe more effete. so there was a lot of anxiety and sargent capitalizes on that. reporter: he did it boldly in this portrait of a well-known parisian, the gynecologist dr.

pozzi. for its startling intimacy, the painting was never shown publicly in paris in sargent's lifetime. >> he's wearing a blood red robe. and he's got cuffs and a collar that are highly pleated and somewhat feminine. sargent is really sporting with gender here. dr. pozzi was a famous womanizer, but he had lots of queer friend in the circles in paris. and sargent was kind of gripped by this man's charisma and you can see it in the portrait. he has warring instincts. on the one hand he's a very sort of shy, quiet retiring man who loves his work. on the other hand the provocation is part of his making a career for himself. reporter: but provocation doesn't even begin to describe what sargent did in 1884, when this portrait of the american-born madame pierre gautreau was exhibited at the prestigious paris salon. she did not commission sargent. rather he chased her.

>> everybody in paris wanted to make an image of madame gautreau. one other american described her as black as spades and white as milk, and she sort of glided across the floor. reporter: but when the portrait was unveiled with gautreau's revealing gown, one strap originally painted slipping down her shoulder and her skin so white it looked lavender, society revolted. >> one of sargent's friends wrote that it was surrounded by shoals of jibing women. also in the press they say that it looks like her dress is about to fall down. they say she looks like a corpse, she's so pale. reporter: gautreau was mortified and sargent was singed. he later repainted the strap and found the experience bruising enough to leave paris for london. >> sargent, when he sold it to the metropolitan museum in 1915, he said, i think it's one of the

best things i've ever done. it's interesting, she sort of retreated from society. but then some years later had another portraitist paint her portrait, also in profile, also with one strap down. reporter: and validating john singer sargent as both socially and fashion forward. for the pbs newshour, i'm jared bowen in boston. geoff: join us tomorrow for coverage of cop 28, the annual international gathering to address climate change. this year it is hosted by the united arab emirates. that is the newshour for tonight. i am geoff bennett. amna: i am amna nawaz. thank you for joining us.

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announcer: major funding for "the american buffalo" was provided by the better angels society and its members; the margaret a. cargill foundation fund at the saint paul & minnesota foundation; diane and hal brierley; the keith campbell foundation for the environment; john and catherine debs; kissick family foundation; fred and donna seigel; by jacqueline mars, john and leslie mcquown, and mr. and mrs. paul tudor jones.