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We talk with Fintan O’Toole about his scathing — and tender — personal history of modern Ireland, We Don’t Know Ourselves. Then we hear Seamus Heaney reading a poem and a rare recording of storyteller Susan Porter reading from the Irish legend of Cuchulain.
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We talk with John de Graaf about his new film, Stewart Udall, The Politics of Beauty. It takes an in-depth look at the life and work of Stewart Udall, a man who played a pivotal role in shaping America’s conservation and environmental policies.
Then we listen back to our 2007 interview with Les Leopold about his biography of labor leader and environmentalist Tony Mazzochi.
Key Words: environment, conservation, labor, OSHA, biography, documentary film
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To celebrate Black History Month, we re-air our 2015 interview with acclaimed biographer James McGrath Morris about his biography, Eye on The Struggle: Ethel Payne, First Lady Of The Black Press.
Description
Black History Month honors the vital contributions made by African Americans throughout history, including the important role they played in the civil rights movement.
One of the unsung heroes of this movement was Ethel Payne. In this special podcast episode, acclaimed biographer James McGrath Morris discusses his biography of Payne, Eye on the Struggle, and sheds light on her remarkable life and legacy.
Through Morris’s captivating storytelling, listeners can gain a deeper understanding of the crucial role of the black press in the civil rights movement and the ongoing fight for equality.
Keywords: Black History Month, Ethel Payne, First Lady of the Black Press, civil rights movement, James McGrath Morris, biography, Eye on the Struggle, Washington Press Corps, White House Press Corps, Chicago Defender, Martin Luther King Jr., Emmet Till, McCarthyism, Pulitzer.
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We speak with Jonathan Lee about his historical novel The Great Mistake. It’s about the man who’s called “The Father of Greater New York,” Andrew Haswell Green.
Then, Michael Mechanic takes us on a tour into the lives of the super-rich and what their astronomic wealth says about America. His book is Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live- and How their Wealth Harms Us All.
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We talk with Antonio Scurati about his international bestseller about Mussolini, M: Son of the Century. It won the prestigious Strega Prize.
Then Tsering Yangzom Lama tells us about her powerful novel of Tibetan exile and resilience, We Measure The Earth With Our Bodies.
Antonio Scurati
Benito Mussolini came to power in circumstances that are resonant with the crises we face today: economic turmoil for the masses, disenchantment with elites that fail to govern, and the erosion of democracy.
In his international bestseller, M, Antonio Scurati takes a deep dive into the mind of the dictator and the social conditions he was able to exploit in his rise.
By combining fiction with documentary evidence and meticulous historical research, Scurati has invented a new genre, which he calls the “documentary novel.”
M is a cautionary tale that we would all do well to heed.
Tsering Yangzom Lama
In today’s world, thirty people become refugees every minute and 68 million people have been displaced (almost certainly an undercount.)
One of the earliest post WWII refugee crises happened in 1959, when Mao’s People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet. About 80,000 Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, were forced to escape to India and Nepal, uprooted from their ancestral villages and way of life. Many people died during that exodus.
Tsering Yangzom Lama’s parents were among those who fled. She was born in Nepal. Yet there was much about her family’s history that she was unaware of growing up.
Her acclaimed debut novel We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies tells the story of the Tibetan diaspora. But it also brings alive the rich history, traditions and culture of Tibet.
Named a most anticipated book of the year by The Millions and Ms. and among the
Washington Post’s 10 Noteworthy Books for May, 2022, We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies is a story of courage, survival resilience by an extraordinary young writer.
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For Black History Month, we re-air our conversation with Tamara Payne about her late father Les Payne’s acclaimed biography of Malcolm X, The Dead Are Arising. It won the National Book Award in 2020.
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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 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 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 Julia Sweig about her acclaimed book, Lady Bird Johnson: In Plain Sight.
Then, after exiting Afghanistan, President Biden is turning his attention to China, implying that China is a serious security threat that the US may have to meet with force. But security analyst Michael Klare disagrees. We talk with him about his recent post in the Nation magazine, The Real Existential Threat Is Our Overheating Planet.
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We talk with HonorÁ©e Fanonne Jeffers, award-winning poet and now novelist, about The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois, just out from Harper Collins.
Then, two young women build a literary empire around poetry and life lessons. We talk with Jade Dee and Wilnona Marie, the And I Thought Ladies.
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We talk with Elizabeth Hinton about her book, America on Fire: The Untold History Of Police Violence And Black Rebellion Since The 1960’s.
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We talk with Cal Flyn about her book, Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape.
Then, just in time for Pride Month, James Romm tells us about his book The Sacred Band: Three Hundred Theban Lovers Fighting To Save Greek Freedom.
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We talk with Judy Batalion about her book, The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos.
Then, another WWII story—this time fiction—told through an unforgettable cast of characters: we talk with Lissa Evans about V for Victory, the sequel to Crooked Heart.
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We talk with Heather McGhee about her important new book, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone And How We Can Prosper Together. It’s about how the politics of racial division keeps working class people of all races from having what they deserve.
But first, we talk with Michelle Commander of the Schomburg Center about the anthology she’s co-edited: UNSUNG: Unheralded Narratives of American Slavery & Abolition.