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We spend the hour with Howard Mansfield, first talking about his new book, Chasing Eden: A Book of Seekers. It’s about those who long to build a better life for themselves and others.
Then, we replay our 2019 interview with Mansfield about his book The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down. It’s about how American society treats property rights — and who pays the price.
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Today we have two fascinating interviews, both about how human beings are changing the other species with whom we share the planet.
Later in the show, we talk with evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro about how humans deliberately change species. Her book is Life As We Made It: How 50,000 Years Of Human Innovation Refined And Redefined Nature.
But first, Thor Hanson tells us about how many species are evolving to adapt to human-caused climate change. His book is Hurricane Lizards And Plastic Squid: The Fraught And Fascinating Biology Of Climate Change.
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We talk with archeologist David Wengrow about the groundbreaking book he co-authored with the late David Graeber, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity.
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It’s that time, folks! The time for Ten Best Of The Year lists. We play excerpts from ten of our favorite episodes in 2021:
Hugh Raffles, The Book Of Unconformities; Michael Mann, The New Climate War; Heather McGhee, The Sum Of Us; Elizabeth Kolbert, Under A White Sky; Michaeleen Doucleff, Hunt, Gather, Parent; Cal Flynn, Islands of Abandonment; Nina Burleigh, Virus; Elizabeth Hinton, America on Fire; Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois; and Eyal Press, Dirty Work.
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Francesca Rheannon reads her story “The Food Philosophe.” It’s about a Winter Solstice feast in Provence that led to some delicious life lessons.
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We talk with Ben Sheehan about his book, What Does The Constitution Say? A Kids Guide To How Our Democracy Works.
Then we talk with constitutional scholar Noah Feldman about his terrific new history of Lincoln and the civil war from a constitutional perspective, The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America.
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We talk with Leonard Rubenstein about his book Perilous Medicine: The Struggle to Protect Health Care from the Violence of War.
Then, Stan Cox connects the dots between climate chaos, racism and the next pandemic. We talk with him about his book, The Path to a Livable Future: A New Politics to Fight Climate Change, Racism, and the Next Pandemic.
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We talk with deep sea explorer Edith Widder about Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir Of Exploring Light And Life In The Deep Sea.
Then, we revisit our 2017 interview with Sy Montgomery about the book she so-authored with Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, Tamed And Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind.
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Who does the dirty work in our society? And who benefits? We talk with Eyal Press about his new book, Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America.
Then, In the US, more than 23,000 animals, not including fish, are slaughtered for our food every minute. We talk with Melanie Joy about the tenth anniversary of her groundbreaking book, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism.
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We talk with David Talbot about the book he co-authored with his sister Margaret Talbot, By The Light of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution.
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We talk with best-selling author Ken Follett about his new novel, Never. It’s a chilling look about how a small international incident could lead to nuclear annihilation.
Then, Anthony Horowitz tells us about the third in his meta-murder mystery Hawthorne series, A Line To Kill.
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We talk with graphic artist Joe Lee about his stunningly illustrated book, Forgiveness: The Story of Eva Kor, Survivor of The Auschwitz Twin Experiments.
Then Valerie Martin tells us about her new novel I Give It To You. It’s a many-layered tale about what happens when an Italian friend tells a writer a story about her family in Mussolini’s Italy.
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We talk with Victor Wooten, co-founder of the band Bela Fleck and the Flectones and author of The Spirit of Music. The book is an inspiring parable of the importance of music and the threats that it faces in today’s world.
Then, we talk with historian David Stebenne about his book, Promised Land: How The Rise Of The Middle-Class Transformed America, 1929 to 1968.
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We talk with Ruth Ozeki about her wonderful new novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness. It’s a coming-of-age/Hero’s Journey that is heart-wrenching, inspiring, funny and deeply wise.
Then, writer Hilma Wolitzer tells us about her retrospective collection of stories, Today A Woman Went Mad In The Supermarket. It spans decades of stories about an ordinary couple, written in extraordinary prose.
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We talk with Geo Maher about his new book, A World Without Police: How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete.
Then, we hear the thrilling and hopeful story of a rural community in EL Salvador that took on a global gold mining company — and won. John Cavanagh & Robin Broad tell us about their book, The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved A Country From Corporate Greed.