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Peter Phillips of Project Censored talks about the Project’s latest yearbook of the top censored news stories of 2009, CENSORED 2010. And novelist Dan Chaon talks about his thriller, AWAIT YOUR REPLY. It examines the truth and lies about identity. Continue reading
It’s that time of year to reflect on “The List”: The Ten Best Of list, that is. This year was really tough (not unlike the 2008 best of list!), because there were so many show episodes I could have included. I was a bit chagrined that it was so dominated by men — I strive for gender balance in these lists — but so many of the guys wrote books of such heart and human compassion (Tracy Kidder, Abraham Verghese, Nicholsen Baker, Tyler Boudreau) that I just had to include them. Browse through the list and enjoy!
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Artist and writer Matthew Rose talks about the unbound book of art postcards he curated, A BOOK ABOUT DEATH. It’s a collection of 500 limited edition postcards on the theme of death, each one created by an artist for the exhibition. And George Monbiot and Bill McKibben talk about climate change. Continue reading
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Guest host Chris Rohmann interviews Los Angles Times drama critic Kenneth Turan about FREE FOR ALL: Joe Papp, The Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told. It’s about the how Joseph Papp founded the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater. Then Suzan Colon tells us about her memoir, CHERRIES IN WINTER: My Family’s Recipe for Hope in Hard Times. Finally, we talk about THE HEALTHY COLLEGE COOKBOOK with editor Rachel Holcomb. Continue reading
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Harvey Wasserman tells us about SOLARTOPIA, his vision of 2030’s clean energy world. And ecologist Amy Seidl tells us how we can adapt to climate change while trying to control it. Her book is EARLY SPRING. Continue reading
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Tracy Kidder talks about STRENGTH IN WHAT REMAINS. It’s the story of a young Tutsi refugee from the genocide in Rwanda & civil war in Burundi who comes to the US and creates a new life. He’s helped along the way by others — and eventually is able to bring his own considerable gifts and passion back to his homeland to help others. And Terry Tempest Williams talks about her visit to Rwanda in an excerpt from our interview with about her book, MOSAIC, in 2008. Continue reading
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Christian theologian and peace activist James W. Douglass tells us why he thinks JFK was assassinated. He says it was because Kennedy went up against the military-industrial complex and the national security state. His carefully researched book is JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE. Continue reading
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“Unembedded journalist” Dahr Jamail tells us about the profound impact on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — and how they are fighting back. We also talk with mystery novelist Lisa Kleinholz, cookbook author Lora Brody and journalism prof and blogger B.J. Roche — they’re all panelists on the upcoming Write Angles writers conference taking place Nov 21, 2009 at Mount Holyoke College. Continue reading
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Francine Prose talks about her terrific new book, ANNE FRANK: THE BOOK, THE LIFE, THE AFTERLIFE. It shines a writer’s lens on Frank’s diary and on its postwar reception in the U.S. and elsewhere. And Israeli journalist Amira Hass tells us about her mother’s DIARY OF BERGEN BELSEN, a searing account of moral courage in the face of unrelenting brutality. Continue reading
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We hear excerpts from a dramatic reading of Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Enchanted Circle Theater actors. It’s about a young black man in Jim Crow Louisiana who is condemned to death. And we interview Thad Carhart about his new historical novel, ACROSS THE ENDLESS RIVER. It’s about Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea who was a guide on the Lewis and Clark expedition and who lived both in the United States and Europe. Continue reading
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Irish mystery writer John Connolly tells us about his new spine-tingling and funny bone-tickling thriller for smart teens, THE GATES. And we air an archived interview with magician Alan Kronzek about THE SORCERER’S COMPANION, A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter. Continue reading
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Investigative journalist Terry Gould talks about his book, MARKED FOR DEATH: Dying for the Story in the World’s Most Dangerous Places. It explores the stories of seven journalists who exposed the truth — even though they knew they’d be killed for their work. And Wanda Urbanska of the TV show Simple Living tells us the secret of genuine happiness. She edited LESS IS MORE with Cecile Andrews. Continue reading
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Nicholson Baker talks about his new novel, THE ANTHOLOGIST. His hero Paul Chowder is looking back over his whole life and wondering what it’s amounted to. He’s also facing the dreaded disease: writer’s block. And Susan Stinson is just finishing her new novel, SPIDER IN THE TREE. She tells us about her protagonist, the 18th century preacher Jonathan Edwards who preached fire and brimstone — and love. Continue reading
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Journalist Chris Hedges talks about EMPIRE OF ILLUSION: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. He says Americans are in thrall to a culture of narcissism, revenge, and fake “happiness” that is destroying our democracy — and our power to connect genuinely with others. And former Army intelligence officer and constitutional scholar Chris Pyle says the Bush Administration is GETTING AWAY WITH TORTURE. He tells us about secret government, war crimes, and the rule of law. Continue reading
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We interview Nick Reding about how the methamphetamine epidemic is eating away at rural America. His book is METHLAND: The Death and Life of an American Small Town. And John Pipkin tells us about his debut novel WOODSBURNER. It’s about a very bad day in the life of Henry David Thoreau: when he started a forest fire that burned three hundred acres. Pipkin uses the fire as a starting point to examine the destruction human passions can cause. Continue reading