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We talk with historian David Silverman about his book This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving.
Then, we continue our Thanksgiving week tradition of hearing Native American storyteller and ethnohistorian Marge Bruchac talk about Thanksgiving from the Native point of view — and her re-telling of the Story of Corn.
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We talk with Mimi Lemay about her powerful memoir of a family with a transgender child, What We Will Become: A Mother, a Son, and a Journey of Transformation.
Then, we welcome a special guest to our show, Senator Sherrod Brown. He’ll tell us about his new book, Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America. It’s a celebration of eight former progressive senators who sat at the desk he occupies in the Senate.
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We spend the hour with legendary travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux, talking about his latest book, ON THE PLAIN OF SNAKES: A Mexican Journey. We also hear a poem by the renowned Mexican poet Javier Sicilia.
Our conversation with Paul Theroux takes us from the US border to the jungles of Chiapas, as Theroux tells us about the resilience of the Mexican people in the face of violence and bad government, the preservation of ancient traditions by the poorest communities and the inspiring rebellion in the south by the Zapatistas, who have created their own liberated territory.
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We talk with social justice scholar Monique Morris about her new book, Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls.
Then, as fire season in California becomes ever longer and more intense, some are saying the profit-driven utility ownership model just isn’t working. We talk with Ben Ehrenreich about his article in the Nation, “California Is Burning—Nationalize PG&E.”
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On the menu this week are two books, both with roots in South Asia and America, touching on two of the most central issues of our time: climate and immigration.
We talk first with acclaimed novelist and writer Amitav Ghosh about his newest work of fiction, Gun Island. Then, NPR-correspondent Aarti Shahani tells us about her stunning memoir of immigration to America — the dream and the nightmare. It’s called Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares. Continue reading
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We talk with Ryan Grim, correspondent for the Intercept about his fascinating new book, We’ve Got People: From Jesse Jackson to AOC, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement.
Then we check in with Jeet Heer about his take on the state of the Democratic Party after the last debate. His editorial in the Nation is “On a Crowded Stage, Democrats Divide Into Two Tribes.” Continue reading
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We spend the hour with Virginia Eubanks talking about her award-winning book Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. It’s about how the use of computerized algorithms are replacing human beings in deciding in who is or is not “worthy” of getting help — and destroying lives in the process. Continue reading
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We talk with John Nichols of the Nation about how the Congress should be proceeding on impeaching President Trump.
Then Bernie and Warren are friends. Should their supporters be? In a recent editorial in the Nation, D.D. Guttenplan says they should.
Finally, we check in with Les Leopold, author of Runaway Inequality and founder of runawayinequality.org about the current state of income and wealth inequality. Continue reading
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We talk with David Bollier about the new book he co-authored with Silke Helfrich, Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons.
But first, we tackle the toxic state public discourse and how to clean it up. We talk with James Hoggan about the new edition of his book, I’m Right and You’re An Idiot. Continue reading
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We talk with naturalist, author, and award-winning wildlife filmmaker Paul Rosalie about how a real life encounter with a tiger turned into a page-turner of a novel. His book is The Girl And The Tiger.
But first, we explore the relationship of water to people and people to water. We talk with journalist and historian Jim Rousmaniere about his book Water Connections. Continue reading
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What’s causing the epidemic of violence against women in Tijuana Mexico? That’s the question epidemiologist Dan Werb addresses in his powerful exploration into the causes of the epidemic of missing and murdered women in Tijuana. We talk with him about his book, City of Omens: A Search for the Missing Women of the Borderlands (Bloomsbury Press, 2019.)
Then, the UN Climate Summit and a global week of action on the climate is happening. We air an excerpt from an interview with climate scientist Michael Mann. Continue reading
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We talk with Paul Tough about his terrific new book, THE YEARS THAT MATTER MOST: How College Makes Or Breaks Us. It asks the question: Is the American system of higher education fair? Or is it designed to protect the privileged and leave everyone else behind?
Then we re-air our 2015 interview with Kristina Rizga about her book MISSION HIGH: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph. It’s about a high school in San Francisco with an impressive track record on educating poor, minority and immigrant youth.
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We spend the hour with science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist, Cory Doctorow. First, we talk with him about his terrific new book, Radicalized. It brings together four speculative fiction novellas connected by social, technological, and economic visions of today — and what America could be in the very near future.
Then we re-air an edited version of our 2010 interview with Doctorow about his novel, Makers, which is about a movement of open source tech creators and their battle with the Disney Corporation.
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Eighty years ago on September 1, 1939 World War Two broke out. Today, we talk about a new novel and a surprising biography that illumine important but lesser known stories about that conflict: Julie Orringer’s acclaimed novel, The Flight Portfolio and Robert Matzen’s fascinating biography of the young Audrey Hepburn and her work with the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis, Dutch Girl.
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We talk with Jayson Greene about his memoir of losing his two year old daughter to a freak accident, Once More We Saw Stars.
Then, we talk with writer Mitchell S. Jackson about his memoir of growing up in an African-American community in Portland Oregon, Survival Math.