POPULARITY
Categories
Laura Pappano is a veteran journalist who has covered the heated disagreements that surround K-12 education for over thirty years. Yet, today's high stakes battle is unlike anything she's seen before. "It isn't rooted in a passion for the success of all children," she writes. "Rather, it's about the hijacking of public education by a far-right Christian movement and the quest to do away with the community-rooted education enterprise." Parent involvement is no longer about baking treats or donating classroom supplies, she notes. It's about organizing to protect the very existence of public schools. Join us when award-winning journalist and founder of The New Haven Student Journalism Project, operated through Yale University's Office of New Haven Affairs chronicles how this cultural and political war has unfolded in hot spots across the country and how mom activists, including in some cases conservative Christian women, are holding the line against the far-right takeover of public schools, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Leonard Lopate, the Peabody and James Beard Award-winning broadcaster, is on WBAI where he began his radio career. Tune in weekdays from 1-2pm at 99.5fm New York or you can listen to the show live at WBAI.org. Join us for conversation on current events and call-in into the station to let your voice be heard (212) 209-2877. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
According to Award-winning journalist and Regular Contributor Robert Hennelly, most of the labor activists that are reviving the American union movement were not on the planet when Martin Luther King Jr walked the earth. But the torch has been passed and the “dream” endures when ever there's collective non-violent action that moves US forward. Hennelly, has a passion for uncovering the News behind the News. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, he has always had a keen interest in the roles of immigration, local politics, business, labor unions, real estate ownership, and environmental protection in the evolution of the United States. For more than 30 years, he has reported on a broad spectrum of major public policy questions, ranging from homeland security to the economy, environmental contamination to corruption, and occupational safety to homelessness. Join us today on Leonard Lopate at Large. When Bob Hennelly covers extend medical and compensation benefits to those involved in rescue operations following the 9/11 attacks and more on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Richard Rothstein is the co-author of JUST ACTION: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute, and Senior Fellow (Emeritus) of the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Leah Rothstein is the co-author of JUST ACTION: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law that describes how local community groups can redress the wrongs of segregation. Leah has worked on public policy and community change, from the grassroots to the halls of government. Join us for conversation on reforming community policy and practice to be focused on rehabilitation, not punishment on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Max Roach Centennial Celebrations in January Include Film Screening, Panel Discussion and Local NYC-NJ Concerts The revolutionary 1960 album We Insist!: Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite explored issues of social justice and racial inequality through the lens of jazz and poetry. In celebration of the centennial of Max Roach (1924-2007)—drummer, bebop pioneer and civil rights activist—this landmark work is reimagined for today's world. In affiliation with Jazz at Lincoln Center, this special one-night only concert is led by musical director Nasheet Waits (of Max's percussion ensemble M'Boom) featuring vocalist Cassandra Wilson, poets Sonia Sanchez and Saul Williams, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, and bassist Eric Revis. Join us for an in-depth discussion with Drummer and Music Educator, Nasheet Waits who's interest in playing the drums was encouraged by his father, legendary percussionist, Frederick Waits, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Bestselling author and historian Steven Ujifusa tells the largely forgotten, colorful story of three businessmen who, driven by very different motives, made much of this immigration possible and forever changed the fates of millions. The men were Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of an investment bank who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships; and the notorious J.P. Morgan, who tried to take over the lucrative steamship business. Join us for a discussion on these titans of industry who forged powerful alliances and compelling rivalries on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu)
We'd like to hear from you during this Holiday season. How have you been coping with winter, Municipal, State, and Global concerns? Although this is the mos festive time of year it sometimes doesnt feel that way. We would like you to share your remedies on dealing with the winter blues. Call-in in Join the discussion. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
Edited by Jennifer Cognard-Black and Melissa A. Goldthwaite - Good Eats: 32 Writers on Eating Ethically features a highly diverse ensemble of award-winning writers, activists, educators, chefs, farmers, and journalists, Good Eats invites readers to think about what it means to eat according to our values. These essays tell the stories of real people—real bellies, real bodies—including the writers themselves, who seek to understand the experiences, families, cultures, histories, and systems that have shaped their eating and their ethics. From gardening as an alternative to factory farming, to the indigenous cultures surrounding salmon and the corporate cultures surrounding chocolate, the topics featured in this collection expand our understanding of what ethical eating can be. Join us when Melissa A. Goldthwaite a Professor of English at Saint Joseph's University share the stories which describe efforts to change how food is made on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Regular Contributor Bob Hennelly of Stuck Nation covers topics ranging from homeland security to the economy, environmental contamination to corruption, and occupational safety to homelessness. Joing us when Hennelly touches on the hearing held by Sen. Sanders for his Health, Education, Labor and Pension that featured testimony from Fain (UAW), Nelson (AFA CWA) and O'Brien (Teamsters) or Tammy Murphy, Gov. Murphy's wife, as a viable replacement for the 3x indicted US Senator. And more on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
Marjorie Kelly is Distinguished Senior Fellow with The Democracy Collaborative, and the author of - Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today's Crises (Berrett-Kohler, September 2023) talks today with Leonard on Leonard Lopate at large.
Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theoriesis a deeply researched dive into the history of the conspiracy industry around the Rothschild family - from the "pamphlet wars" of Paris in the 1840s to the dankest pits of the internet today. Join us when journalist and conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild, who isn't related to the family, sorts out myth from reality to find the truth about these conspiracy theories and their spreaders on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large
Lewin brings these general principles to life by considering the history of the genetics revolution, from the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA to the sequencing of the human genome and the possibilities of gene editing today. History shows us that each period of progress in science relied on dogmas that often advanced but sometimes retarded progress, and that views of reality often changed suddenly and dramatically. Join us when Ben Lewin concludes by asking if the reductionist manifesto that has dominated biology for the past half century can continue to hold, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) is one of the most cherished and reviled laws ever passed. It mandates protection and preservation of all the nation's species and biodiversity, whatever the cost. It has been a lightning rod for controversy and conflicts between industry/business and environmentalists. Lowell E. Baier's intellectual curiosity during his 60-year career has taken him from a practicing attorney, to an entrepreneur, a tireless advocate for natural resources and wildlife conservation, and a legal and environmental historian and author. Join us when Lowell E. Baier explores the history of the ESA and it's increasing impact, complexity, and controversy on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
In these stories of struggle and hope, as one volunteer said, “you see the American story.” For some families, minor mistakes create catastrophes—food stamps cut off, educational opportunities missed, benefits lost. Other families, with the help of volunteers and social supports, escape these traps and take steps toward reaching their dreams. Engaging and eye-opening, We Thought It Would Be Heaven brings readers into the daily lives of Congolese refugees and offers guidance for how activists, workers, and policymakers can help refugee families thrive. Join us when authors Blair Sackett and Annette Lareau dive into stories of resettled refugees in America and the daunting obstacles they face on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu):
DAVID SCHENCK is the former Director of the Ethics Program, Medical University of South Carolina, and was on the faculty of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A leader on ethics in healthcare and a long-time hospice volunteer, David Schenck is familiar with feeling overwhelmed and helpless while trying to help others. Spurred by the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline workers, he set out to reframe common ideas about caregiver burnout. The result, Into the Field of Suffering: Finding the Other Side of Burnout. Drawing on hundreds of conversations with healthcare workers and caregivers, patients and families, Schenck offers a radically different perspective on caregiving. Join us when David Schenck offers simple practices, caregivers can use to develop awareness and skills to avoid burnout and find renewal on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
A “problem of twelve” arises when a small number of institutions acquire the means to exert outsized influence over the politics and economy of a nation. According to Harvard law professor John Coates, the Big Four index funds of Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity, and BlackRock control more than twenty percent of the votes of S&P 500 companies—a concentration of power that's unprecedented in America. Then there's the rise of private equity funds such as the Big Four of Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR, which has amassed $2.7 trillion of assets, and are eroding the legitimacy and accountability of American capitalism, not by controlling public companies, but by taking them over entirely, and removing them from public discourse and public scrutiny. Join us as author John Coates examines the last few decades of transformation in the American economy — and calls our attention to what is sure to be one of the major political and economic issues of our time on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Award-winning journalist and Regular Contributor Bob Hennelly has a passion for uncovering the News behind the News. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, he has always had a keen interest in the roles of immigration, local politics, business, labor unions, real estate ownership, and environmental protection in the evolution of the United States. For more than 30 years, he has reported on a broad spectrum of major public policy questions, ranging from homeland security to the economy, environmental contamination to corruption, and occupational safety to homelessness. Join us today on Leonard Lopate at Large. When Bob Hennelly covers New York City's retirees' traditional Medicare coverage on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
As we celebrate 50 years in Hip Hop, ILLMATIC CONSEQUENCES combines social science and hip-hop studies to address disinformation and propaganda that distorted political discourse after the 2020 election. In this text, scholars and activists come together to clap back on the lies that animated attacks at local school boards and the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. capitol. Following a thematic structure, these contributors address "The Crisis", "The Clapback", and "The Consequences", using hip hop and Afrofuturism as models for analysis and solutions to the cultural divisions in the United States. Inspired by the work of David Roediger, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ibram Kendi, and Carol Anderson, ILLMATIC CONSEQUENCES stretches the vision and lexicon of Nasir Jones to a new generation of artists. Readers of this text will become the vanguard of a global society dedicated to freedom, justice, and decolonization. Join us as the authors use Critical Race Theory lenses to theorize political, class, scientific, spatial and cultural dimensions of Hip Hop as modality and practice on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
In this powerful and deeply felt memoir of translation, storytelling, and borders, Alejandra Oliva, a Mexican-American translator and immigrant justice activist, offers a powerful chronical of her experience interpreting at the US-Mexico border. Having worked with asylum seekers since 2016, she knows all too well the gravity of taking someone's trauma and delivering it to the warped demands of the U.S. immigration system. Oliva recounts the stories of the people she's met through her work, she also traces her family's long and fluid relationship to the border—each generation born on opposite sides of the Rio Grande. In Rivermouth, Oliva focuses on the physical spaces that make up different phases of immigration, looking at how language and opportunity move through each of them: from the river as the waterway that separates the U.S. and Mexico, to the table as the place over which Oliva prepares asylum seekers for their Credible Fear Interviews, and finally, to the wall as the behemoth imposition that runs along America's southernmost border. Join us when Alejandra Oliva approaches the painful questions: By which metrics are we measuring who “deserves” American citizenship? What is the point of humanitarian systems that distribute aid conditionally? What do we owe to our most disenfranchised? On this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
More than twenty years ago, 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan set into motion a hugely consequential shift in America's foreign policy: a perpetual state of war that is almost entirely invisible to the American public. War Made Invisible, by the journalist and political analyst Norman Solomon, exposes how this happened, and what its consequences are, from military and civilian casualties to drained resources at home. Join us when Norman Solomon examines his book War Made Invisible, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large
Tenants in rent-stabilized apartments will see rent increases in the coming year lower than worst-case scenarios, following a Rent Guidelines Board preliminary this past Spring. Join us when Altagracia Pierre-Outerbridge, founder and owner of New York city-based law firm Outerbridge Law P.C. who's practice is focused on landlord-tenant litigation and transactional matters examine NY tenants, landlords, and the rent guidelines board on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
With Homelessness in NYC being such a pervasive issue today's guest, former Commissioner of Mental Health Dr. Robert Okin covers the two years he spent on the street meeting and photographing homeless individuals with mental illness to find answers to many questions such as: How do they end up on the street? How do they survive the stress and privations of such a life? What combination of biological vulnerabilities, childhood traumas, drugs, mental disorders, and financial devastation brought them down? And how do some manage, against all odds, to climb out of this desperate situation? He masterfully brings these people to life through stories and images that are intimate and gritty. Join us when Dr. Robert Okin challenges us to face the situation and do something about it rather than simply look away on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times and the foremost journalist covering the country, was there on the ground when the first Russian missiles struck and troops stormed over the border. But the seeds of Russia's war against Ukraine and the West were sown more than a decade earlier. The War Came To Us is the definitive, inside story of its long fight for freedom. Told through Miller's personal experiences, vivid front-line dispatches and illuminating interviews with unforgettable characters, Join us when Christopher Miller takes us on a riveting journey through the key locales and pivotal events of Ukraine's modern history. From the coal-dusted, sunflower-covered steppe of the Donbas in the far east to the heart of the Euromaidan revolution camp in Kyiv; from the Black Sea shores of Crimea, where Russian troops stealthily annexed Ukraine's peninsula, to the bloody battlefields where Cossacks roamed before the Kremlin's warlords ruled with iron fists; and through the horror and destruction wrought by Russian forces in Bucha, Bakhmut, Mariupol, and beyond, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
The 1968 presidential race was a contentious battle between vice president Hubert Humphrey, Republican Richard Nixon, and former Alabama governor George Wallace. The United States was reeling from the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy and was bitterly divided on the Vietnam War and domestic issues, including civil rights and rising crime. Drawing on previously unexamined archives and numerous interviews, Luke A. Nichter upends the conventional understanding of the campaign. Join us when Historian Luke Nichter provides this eye-opening account of the political calculations and maneuvering that decided this fiercely fought election and reshaped our understanding of a key moment in twentieth-century American history. Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu):
The Story of Russia is a peek into the thousand years of Russia's history, concerned as much with the ideas that have shaped how Russians think about their past as it is with the events and personalities comprising it. No other country has reimagined its own story so often, in a perpetual effort to stay in step with the shifts of ruling ideologies. From the founding of Kievan Rus in the first millennium to Putin's war against Ukraine, Orlando Figes explores the ideas that have guided Russia's actions throughout its long and troubled existence. Whether he's describing the crowning of Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral or the dramatic upheaval of the peasant revolution, he reveals the impulses, often unappreciated or misunderstood by foreigners, that have driven Russian history: the medieval myth of Mother Russia's holy mission to the world; the imperial tendency toward autocratic rule; the popular belief in a paternal tsar dispensing truth and justice; the cult of sacrifice rooted in the idea of the “Russian soul”; and always, the nationalist myth of Russia's unjust treatment by the West. Join us when Orlando Figes shares a lifetime of scholarship inThe Story of Russia on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
In 1967, David Rothenberg produced a play called Fortune and Men's Eyes that revealed the horrors of life in prison. This inspired him to establish The Fortune Society (Fortune). In its 50 years, Fortune has become one of the leading reentry service organizations in the country, serving nearly 7,000 formerly incarcerated individuals per year, providing a wide range of holistic services to meet their needs. Fortune has also secured a position as a leading advocate in the fight for criminal justice reform and alternatives to incarceration. In September of 1971, David Rothenberg was one of a small group of courageous civilian monitors brought into Attica at the request of the incarcerated individuals who were fighting for their human rights – an incident that ended in tragedy but showed the world the horrors of the criminal justice system in the United States. Join us when David Rothenberg, former member of the NYC Human Rights Commission discuss his focus on theater, social activism, politics,and a tireless focus on advocating for the lives of those impacted by the criminal justice system on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
Sean A. Mirski a lawyer and U.S. foreign policy scholar who has worked on national security issues across multiple U.S. presidential administrations ask, What did it take for the United States to become a global superpower? He suggest the answer lies in a missing chapter of American foreign policy with stark lessons for today In We May Dominate the World, Sean A. Mirski tells the story of how the United States became a regional hegemon in the century following the Civil War. By turns reluctant and ruthless, Americans squeezed their European rivals out of the hemisphere while landing forces on their neighbors' soil with dizzying frequency. Mirski reveals the surprising reasons behind this muscular foreign policy in a narrative full of twists, colorful characters, and original accounts of the palace coups and bloody interventions that turned the fledgling republic into a global superpower. Join us as Mirski's offers insight into international politics on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
It's one of the iconic photographs of American history: A Black teenager, a policeman and his lunging German Shepherd. Birmingham, Alabama, May of 1963. In May of 2020, as reporter Paul Kix stared at a different photo–that of a Minneapolis police officer suffocating George Floyd–he kept returning to the other photo taken half a century earlier, haunted by its echoes. What, Kix wondered, was the full legacy of the Birmingham photo? And of the campaign it stemmed from? In You Have To Be Prepared To Die Before You Can Begin To Live, Nonfiction author and journalist Paul Kix takes the reader behind the scenes as he tells the story of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's pivotal 10 week campaign, Project C, as it was known― in 1963 to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. At the same time, he also provides a window into the minds of the four extraordinary men who led the campaign―Martin Luther King, Jr., Wyatt Walker, Fred Shuttlesworth, and James Bevel. Join us when journalist Paul Kix shares the story of Project C, which provides a crucial understanding of our own time and the impact that strategic activism can have. Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
Join us today when award-winning journalist and Regular Contributor Bob Hennelly shares his passion for bringing real news. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, he has always had a keen interest in the roles of immigration, local politics, business, labor unions, real estate ownership, and environmental protection in the evolution of the United States. For more than 30 years, he has reported on a broad spectrum of major public policy questions, ranging from homeland security to the economy, environmental contamination to corruption, and occupational safety to homelessness. Today on Leonard Lopate at Large. When Bob Hennelly investigates the story, you're going to get the perspectives popular media won't cover.
According to renowned advocate for children's welfare and juvenile justice Jane M. Spinak, at the turn of the twentieth century, American social reformers created the first juvenile court. They imagined a therapeutic court where informality, specially trained public servants, and a kindly, all-knowing judge would assist children and families. But the dream of a benevolent means of judicial problem-solving was never realized. A century later, children and families continue to be failed by this deeply flawed court. Jane M. Spinak illustrates how the procedures and policies of modern family court are deeply entwined in a heritage of racism, a profound disdain for poverty, and assimilationist norms intent on fixing children and families who are different. Join us when Spinak shares strategies that center trusting and respecting the abilities of communities to create and sustain meaningful solutions for families on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
According to award-winning journalist Jeff Goodell, the world is waking up to a new reality: wildfires are now seasonal in California, the Northeast is getting less and less snow each winter, and the ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctica are melting fast. Heat is the first order threat that drives all other impacts of the climate crisis. And as the temperature rises, it is revealing fault lines in our governments, our politics, our economy, and our values. The basic science is not complicated: Stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, and the global temperature will stop rising tomorrow. Stop burning fossil fuels in 50 years, and the temperature will keep rising for 50 years, making parts of our planet virtually uninhabitable. It's up to us. The hotter it gets, the deeper and wider our fault lines will open. Join us when Jeff Goodell expounds on his provocative book, The Heat Will Kill You First mixing the latest scientific insight with on-the-ground storytelling on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Writer, educator, filmmaker, and scholar from Chicago - Dr. Rob Eschmann writes on educational inequality, community violence, racism, social media, and youth wellbeing. His research seeks to uncover individual, group, and intuitional-level barriers to racial and economic equity, and he pays special attention to the heroic efforts everyday people make to combat those barriers. From cell phone footage of police killing unarmed Black people to leaked racist messages and even comments from friends and family on social media, online communication exposes how racism operates in a world that pretends to be colorblind. In When the Hood Comes Off, Rob Eschmann blends rigorous research and engaging personal narrative to examine the effects of online racism on communities of color and society, and the unexpected ways that digital technologies enable innovative everyday tools of antiracist resistance. Join us when Eschmann expounds on his investigation which influence online communication on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large. Listen to past shows: https://soundcloud.com/leonard-lopate Be a Friend: Twitter - https://twitter.com/lopate_leonard Support the Station (select the Leonard Lopate at Large from the pulldown menu): BAI Buddy: https://wbai.wedid.it
Today on Leonard Lopate at Large gardening expert Pete Muroski, founder of Native Landscapes in Pawling, NY returns to share tips and take calls. Pete is a talented landscape designer with a particular affinity toward using material that is indigenous to the specific environment. Join us when Pete touches on current weather patterns, proper pruning techniques and timing to keep our terrace, patio, and perimeter landscaping looking and feeling its best and more on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, 99.5FM.
Symbols of Freedom is the surprising story of how enslaved people and their allies drew inspiration from the language and symbols of American freedom. Interpreting patriotic words, phrases, and iconography literally, they embraced a revolutionary nationalism that not only justified but generated open opposition. Mindful and proud that theirs was a nation born in blood, these disparate patriots fought to fulfill the republic's promise by waging war against slavery. Join us when Professor of History, University of History - Matthew J. Clavin examines his book Symbols of Freedom: Slavery and Resistance Before the Civil War on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
At the height of the John Birch Society's activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. “Birchers” believed that a vast communist conspiracy existed in America and posed an existential threat to Christianity, capitalism, and freedom. But as historian Matthew Dallek reveals, the Birch Society's extremism remade American conservatism. Most Birchers were white professionals who were radicalized as growing calls for racial and gender equality appeared to upend American life. Conservative leaders recognized that these affluent voters were needed to win elections, and for decades the GOP courted Birchers and their extremist successors. Join us when Matthew Dallek discuss how the far right steadily gained power, finally toppling the Republican establishment and electing Donald Trump, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Gender Without Identity offers an innovative and at times unsettling theory of gender formation. Rooted in the metapsychology of Jean Laplanche and in conversation with bold work in queer and trans studies, Avgi Saketopoulou and Ann Pellegrini jettison “core gender identity” to propose, instead, that gender is something all subjects acquire -- and that trauma sometimes has a share in that acquisition. Conceptualizing trauma alongside diverse genders and sexualities is thus not about invalidating transness and queerness, but about illuminating their textures to enable their flourishing. Written for readers both in and outside psychoanalysis, Gender Without Identity argues for the ethical urgency of recognizing that wounding experiences and traumatic legacies may be spun into gender. Join us when authors Avgi Saketopoulou and Ann Pellegrini share their clinical research of working with gender complexity on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin traces the dramatic history and profound legacy of Timothy McVeigh, who once declared, “I believe there is an army out there, ready to rise up, even though I never found it.” But that doesn't mean his army wasn't there. With news-breaking reportage, Toobin details how McVeigh's principles and tactics have flourished in the decades since his death in 2001, reaching an apotheosis on January 6 when hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol. Based on nearly a million previously unreleased tapes, photographs, and documents, including detailed communications between McVeigh and his lawyers, as well as interviews with such key figures as Bill Clinton. Join us when Jeffrey Toobin shares Homegrown which reveals how the story of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing is not only a powerful retelling of one of the great outrages of our time, but a warning for our future, on this installment of Leonard Lopate of Large.
Through decades of direct experience of the People's Republic combined with extraordinary access to hundreds of hitherto unseen documents in communist party archives, the author of The People's Trilogy offers a riveting account of China's rise from the disaster of the Cultural Revolution. Join us when Frank Dikötter takes us inside the country's unprecedented four-decade economic transformation--from rural villages to industrial metropoles and elite party conclaves--that vaulted the nation from 126t largest economy in the world to second largest on this installment of Leonard Lopate a Large.
According to David Neiwert, from right-wing compounds in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s, to the shocking January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, America has seen the culmination of a long-building war on democracy being waged by a fundamentally violent and antidemocratic far-right movement that unironically calls itself the "Patriot" movement. Join us when award-winning journalist David Neiwert explores how the movement was built over decades, how it was set aflame by Donald Trump and his cohorts, and how it will continue to attack American democracy for the foreseeable future, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
In 1913, an unlikely friendship blossomed between Henry Ford and famed naturalist John Burroughs. When their mutual interest in Ralph Waldo Emerson led them to set out in one of Ford's Model Ts to explore the Transcendentalist's New England, the trip would prove to be the first of many excursions that would take Ford and Burroughs, together with an enthusiastic Thomas Edison, across America. These travels profoundly influenced the way Ford, Edison, and Burroughs viewed the world, nudging their work in new directions through a transformative decade in American history. Join us when, Wes Davis re-creates these landmark adventures in American Journey on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
New York Times bestselling historian Craig Nelson reveals how FDR confronted an American public disinterested in going to war in Europe, skillfully won their support, and pushed government and American industry to build the greatest war machine in history, “the arsenal of democracy” that won World War II. Join us when Craig Nelson traces how Franklin D. Roosevelt steadily and sometimes secretively put America on a war footing by convincing America's top industrialists such as Henry Ford Jr. to retool their factories, by diverting the country's supplies of raw materials to the war effort, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
According to Professor Jean Pfaelzer, the very first colonizers who crossed the border of the Golden State were and still are powered by slavery—a piece of American history that many still try to bury. Though unyielding research and vivid interviews, Pfaelzer exposes how California gorged on slavery; its appetite for unfree bodies and unpaid labor persists today in the global traffic in human beings who end up sold into the sex trade or trapped in sweatshops and remote marijuana grows. Join us when public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware, Jean Pfaelzer shares how this once-shrouded history spans three centuries of diverse types of slavery and slave revolts on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
The documentary, Elemental: ReimagineWildfire takes viewers on a journey with the top experts from across the nation to better understand wildfire. The film starts with the harrowing escape from Paradise, California as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire's start and then continues to recent record shattering fires. “Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire” includes the voices of the top forest and climate experts, Indigenous prescribed firelighters, and fire survivors, and helps reimagine our relationship with fire as we prepare for an increasingly hotter, drier future. Join us when Director, Co-Writer & Editor Trip Jennings and Executive produced by Ralph Bloemers discuss indigenous fire managers, top fire and climate scientists to explore how wildfire, healthy forests and communities can coexist on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
According to the May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science at Vanderbilt University - Larry Bartels a seeming explosion of support for right-wing populist parties has triggered widespread fears that liberal democracy is facing its worst crisis since the 1930s. In his latest book Democracy Erodes from the Top - Bartels suggest that the real crisis stems not from an increasingly populist public but from political leaders who exploit or mismanage the chronic vulnerabilities of democracy. Europe's most sobering examples of democratic backsliding―in Hungary and Poland―occurred not because voters wanted authoritarianism but because conventional conservative parties, once elected, seized opportunities to entrench themselves in power. Join us when author Larry M Bartels examines the inadequacy of conventional bottom-up interpretations of Europe's political crisis, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Have you ever wondered about the correct pronunciation of a word you use all the time. Are there words that you think you're hearing people mispronounce or misuse all the time? In this installment of “Leonard Lopate at Large” on WBAI, Kathryn and Ross Petras, authors of their New York Times bestseller “You're Saying It Wrong: A Pronunciation Guide to the 150 Most Commonly Mispronounced Words--and Their Tangled Histories of Misuse” and “That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means: The 150 Most Commonly Misused Words and Their Tangled Histories” take your questions about this crazy thing we call the English language.
David Gessner the Bestselling author of thirteen books that blend a love of nature, humor, memoir, and environmentalism asks what kind of planet his daughter will inherit in this coast-to-coast guide to navigating climate crisis. The world is burning and the seas are rising. How do we navigate this new age of extremes? In A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World, David Gessner takes readers on an eye-opening tour of climate hotspots from the Gulf of Mexico to the burning American West to New York City to the fragile Outer Banks, where homes are being swallowed by the seas. Gessner approaches scientists and thinkers with a father's question: What will the world be like in forty-two years? Gessner was forty-two when his daughter, Hadley, was born. What will the world be like in 2064, when Hadley is his age now? What is the future of weather? The future of heat, storms, and fire? What exactly will our children be facing? Join us when Gessner tells a story of climate crisis that will both entertain and shake people awake to the necessity of navigating this new age together, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
Join us today when award-winning journalist and Regular Contributor Bob Hennelly shares his passion for bringing real news. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, he has always had a keen interest in the roles of immigration, local politics, business, labor unions, real estate ownership, and environmental protection in the evolution of the United States. For more than 30 years, he has reported on a broad spectrum of major public policy questions, ranging from homeland security to the economy, environmental contamination to corruption, and occupational safety to homelessness. Today on Leonard Lopate at Large. When Bob Hennelly investigates the story, you're going to get the perspectives popular media won't cover.
In The Watchdog, Steve Drummond draws the reader into the fast-paced story of how Harry Truman, still a newcomer to Washington politics, cobbled together a bipartisan team of men and women that took on powerful corporate entities and the Pentagon, placing Truman in the national spotlight and paving his path to the White House. Join us for the story of how a little-known junior senator fought wartime corruption and, in the process, set himself up to become vice president and ultimately President Harry Truman, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
In Plunder, Brendan Ballou explains how private equity has reshaped American business by raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, and shifting resources from productive to unproductive parts of the economy. Ballou vividly illustrates how many private equity firms buy up retailers, medical practices, prison services, nursing-home chains, and mobile-home parks, among other businesses, using little of their own money to do it and avoiding debt and liability for their actions. Join us when Ballou explains how companies forced to take on huge debts and pay extractive fees, companies purchased by private equity firms are often left bankrupt, or shells of their former selves, with consequences to communities that long depended on them, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.
White Power and American Neoliberal Culture speaks to the urgency of the present moment by uncovering and examining the ideologies that led us here. This book argues that white extremist worldviews—and the violence they provoke—have converged with a radical economic and social agenda to shape daily life in the United States, especially by enshrining the male-dominated white family as the ideal of national identity. Sources include white terrorist manifestos, white power utopian fiction, neoliberal think tank reports, and neoconservative policy statements, Join us when authors Patricia Ventura and Edward K. Chan paint a striking portrait of how the forces of white supremacy and racial capitalism enable each other, perpetuating social injustice and inequity, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.