Category Archives: Podcast

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Podcast

Daniel Ellsberg, THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE & Michael Klare on Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review

Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg talks about his shocking new book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Then we talk with peace and security analyst Michael Klare about his recent article in the Nation, “Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review: Back to Armageddon.” Continue reading

Podcast

Ashley Dawson On Inequality & Climate Change

Author and activist Ashley Dawson talks about his groundbreaking book, Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change (Verso.) It examines the foundation on which climate chaos is playing out in the urban landscape: predatory capitalism and its most glaring feature, extreme inequality. [Note: this is the extended interview.]

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Podcast

Rob Okun, on #MeToo VOICE MALE & Ursula K. Le Guin UNREAL AND REAL

We air part of our 2014 interview with Rob Okun about his book, Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Pro-Feminist Men’s Movement, which is out in a new edition. But first we talk with Okun about #MeToo and #TimesUp — and how men can support that movement.

Then the pioneering science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin died on January 23. We air our 2012 interview with her about her anthology The Unreal And The Real. Continue reading

Podcast

Carl Safina Talks About Offshore Oil & Gas Drilling, Then & Now

We talk with conservation biologist and author Carl Safina about Trump’s plan to target offshore waters for massive oil and gas drilling while abolishing safety rules put in place after the Deepwater Horizon blowout in 2010.

But first, we re-play our 2011 interview with Safina talking about his book about the Deepwater Horizon blowout, A Sea In Flames.

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Podcast

Brian Platzer,  BED-STUY IS BURNING & Peter Moskowitz, HOW TO KILL A CITY

Our theme this episode is gentrification. We talk with Brian Platzer about his novel Bed-Stuy is Burning (Simon and Schuster). It’s about what happens when tensions between gentrifiers and the gentrified explode.

Then we re-air our interview from 2017 with Peter Moskowitz about his book, How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood. Continue reading

Podcast

Katherine Paterson, MY BRIGADISTA YEAR & Jessica Yu, GARDEN OF THE LOST AND ABANDONED

We talk with Katherine Paterson, the best selling author of The Bridge to Terabithia, about her new YA novel, My Brigadista Year. It’s about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign and its teenage heroes.

Then, Jessica Yu talks about her book Garden of the Lost and Abandoned: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Woman and the Children She Saves. It’s about a courageous and compassionate Ugandan journalist who rescues children who have become lost or cast out from home. Continue reading

Podcast

Jeff Goodell, THE WATER WILL COME & Lynn Zinser, Climate Liability News

Jeff Goodell talks about his new book The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World (Little Brown). Then, as coastal properties go underwater, will governments, businesses and homeowners sue Big Carbon? We talk with Lynn Zinser of the nonprofit journalism website Climate Liability News about the legal implications of climate change.

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Podcast

John Michael Greer, The Retro Future & Peter Kalmus, Being The Change

John Michael Greer talks about his latest book The Retro Future: Looking to the Past to Reinvent the Future (New Society Publishers.) Then, climate scientist Peter Kalmus weighs in on the personal choices we can all make to protect the climate. He tells us about his book, Being The Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution (New Society Publishers.) Continue reading

Podcast

Sy Montgomery, TAMED AND UNTAMED & Elizabeth Tova Bailey

Celebrated author Sy Montgomery talks with us about the essays she and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas have written and collected in a wonderful new book, Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind. Then we hear part of our 2011 interview with Elizabeth Tova Bailey about her book The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating. Continue reading

Podcast

Why Drug Costs Are So High – But Single Payer? Not So Much.

Why are drug prices going through the roof? We talk with Wendell Potter about Big Pharma and what his new investigative journalism site, Tarbell, is finding out about it.

Then, critics say single payer health insurance would be too expensive. We talk with economist Gerald Friedman, who developed Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan.  He answers his critics point by point. Continue reading

Podcast

Rita Dove, COLLECTED POEMS & Thanksgiving on WV

Poet Rita Dove talks about her Collected Poems 1974-2004, published by W.W. Norton. Then, we honor our Thanksgiving tradition of airing Marge Bruchac’s true story of Thanksgiving and a reading of Francesca’s story, The Food Philosophe. Continue reading

Podcast

Katherine Nouri Hughes, THE MAPMAKER’S DAUGHTER & Claire McKinney, DO YOU KNOW WHAT A BOOK PUBLICIST DOES?

Katherine Nouri Hughes talks about her novel The Mapmaker’s Daughter. It tells the story of a remarkable historical figure of the 16th century, Queen Mother Nurbanu.

We also get advice from book publicist Claire McKinney on how to promote your book. She’s the author of Do You Know What a Book Publicist Does?: A Guide for Creating Your Own Campaigns. Continue reading

Podcast

Damion Searls Translates Hans Keilson: 1944 DIARY & COMEDY IN A MINOR KEY

Damion Searls talks about his translation of 1944 Diary by the late German/Dutch writer Hans Keilson. It’s the first nonfiction work of Keilson’s that Searls has translated. We also air most of our 2010 interview with Damion Searls about his translation of Keilson’s acclaimed novel, Comedy in a Minor Key. Continue reading

Podcast

John Nichols, HORSEMEN OF THE TRUMPOCALPYSE & Valerie Brown on the EPA and Monsanto

We talk with John Nichols about his book HORSEMEN OF THE TRUMPOCALYPSE: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America. We also talk with Valerie Brown, co-author of a just released report for the magazine In These Times on how Monsanto kept the EPA from regulating the toxic weedkiller glyphosate for over 40 years.  Continue reading

Podcast

Carol Anderson, WHITE RAGE

Carol Anderson talks about her bestselling book White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. Anderson says every time African Americans make gains — from ending slavery to voting rights to the election of a Black POTUS — white Americans mobilize relentlessly to roll back those gains. She says the correct question is not why Black people are angry; it’s why whites are so angry when Black people get rights? Continue reading