Q&A

From 1936 to 1967, during the Jim Crow Era, many African Americans travelers relied on the "Green Book," an annual guide listing African American-friendly hotels, restaurants, gas stations and other businesses, to keep them safe. TV and radio broadcaster Alvin Hall, author of "Driving the Green Book," talks about his visits to a dozen sites mentioned in the guide to learn more about its history an...

Columbia University history professor Matthew Connelly, author of "The Declassification Engine," talks about the increase in U.S. government secrecy from World War Two to today. He argues that many classified documents are never made public because they expose government criminality and incompetence and that overclassification in an effort to keep the country safe is doing more harm that good.    ...

Journalist Alex Prud'homme, author of "Dinner with the President," talks about how food and the culinary tastes of U.S. presidents have impacted American culture and history. He also discusses how breaking bread with allies and adversaries, both in private and public, furthered presidential agendas going back to George Washington.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, you'll meet Ilyon Woo, author of a new bestseller-- "Master Slave, Husband Wife." She recounts the harrowing journey of self-emancipation made by two enslaved Georgians--William and Ellen Craft -- in 1848. Disguised as a wealthy disabled white man traveling with his enslaved servant, the Crafts left Georgia via public conveyances, avoiding slave traders, law enforcement, and curio...

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder, author of "Rough Sleepers," talks about Harvard educated doctor Jim O'Connell and his work with the homeless population of Boston over the past 40 years. Tracy Kidder followed Dr. O'Connell and his colleagues from the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program for five years to get an understanding of their work and an insight into the homelessness cris...

In his new book "Not Accountable," attorney and bestselling author Philip K. Howard critiques public employee unions and their impact in the United States. He argues that organizations like the American Federation of Teachers, the Fraternal Order of Police and others representing millions of government workers have usurped decision-making power from elected officials and are arguably unconstitutio...

Ten days after 9/11, Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ana Montes was arrested by the FBI on espionage charges. For almost 17 years, since the mid-1980s, Ms. Montes had been passing along classified information to the government of Cuba, a crime for which she was sentenced to 25 years in prison. She was released in early January 2023 after serving 20 years. Investigative journalist Jim Popkin, a...

Emmett Till's cousin Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., who accompanied Till on his trip to Mississippi in 1955, talked about the fateful events leading up to Till's murder by two white men and his efforts to get justice for his late cousin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're joined by University of California law professor Joel Richard Paul for a conversation about his latest book: Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the birth of American Nationalism. Webster was the best know orator in antebellum America, and his speeches were widely shared, inspiring many Americans, including Abraham Lincoln, to see the country as one nation bound together by the U.S. Co...

Former college president and longtime educator John Agresto discusses his newest book "The Death of Learning: How American education has failed our Students and What to Do about it." Dr. Agresto is a passionate champion of liberal arts education at both the high school and college level. He makes the case that political correctness and an emphasis on skills-based degrees has devalued the liberal a...

This week, writer Javier Zamora describes the treacherous, three-thousand-mile journey he made from El Salvador to the United States when he was just nine years old. Led by coyotes, he and a group of strangers made three perilous attempts to cross into the US. Javier's parents, who had earlier migrated to California to escape the violence at home, had no idea for weeks if their only child was stil...

Our guest is Shahan Mufti's, who's new book, American Caliph, recounts an event that's been lost to history-- the March 9th, 1977 Hanafi Muslim siege in Washington, D.C. That day, three buildings in Washington, D.C. were seized by 12 Hanafi Movement gunmen and were held for two days. The group took 149 hostages, killed a young radio reporter named Maurice Williams, and shot then-councilman and fut...

This week, a conversation with Rick Wartzman, about his new book, "Still Broke: Walmart's Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism." Given unparalleled access to Walmart executives for this book, Wartzman traces the history of the Bentonville, Arkansas retail giant and its recent efforts to transform itself. Wartzman uses this study of Walmart's relationship with i...

Adam Smith, the author of the 1776 book, Wealth of Nations, is called the father of economics. He's often cited as a champion of free markets, an interpretation widely advanced by Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman in the 20th century. Harvard University lecturer Glory Liu says Smith's work is more nuanced. This week, we talk about her research on Smith as detailed in her new book, "Ada...

Former Wall Street trader turned photojournalist Chris Arnade discusses his book "Dignity," in which he documents the plight of those living on the margins of society in America. He talks about his photos and shares stories about some of the people he befriended during his travels. This program originally aired in October 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Douglas Brinkley, author of "Silent Spring Revolution," discusses American biologist Rachel Carson's work on environmental pollution and the impact her 1962 book "Silent Spring" had on the conservationist movement in the United States during the following decade. He also talks about the leadership of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon on environmental issues and the landmark legislat...

Former Boston Globe reporter and biographer John Farrell, author of "Ted Kennedy: A Life," discusses the life and political career of the late Democratic senator from Massachusetts. He talks about the Kennedy political dynasty and the tragedies surrounding Ted Kennedy's life, including the killing of his brothers and the 1969 car accident at Chappaquiddick that resulted in the drowning of 28-year-...

Data journalist Elliott Morris, a U.S. correspondent for The Economist, discusses the history of public opinion polling in the United States going back to the 19th century and the development and use of polling since then. He also talks about the accuracy of polls today and the often criticized predictions made by forecasters during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.   Learn more about your...

Amy Gajda, professor of law at Tulane University in New Orleans and author of “Seek and Hide,” discusses the historic struggle in the United States between an individual’s right to privacy and the public’s right to know newsworthy information. This conversation was originally published on May 15h, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and filmmaker William Doyle joins us to talk about his new book "Titan of the Senate." It tells the story of the longest-serving Republican Senator, Orrin Hatch of Utah. Sen. Hatch served from 1977-2019 and passed away at the age of 88 in April of 2022. Mr. Doyle argues that Senator Hatch's legislative achievements earn him the nod as the greatest U.S. Senator in modern times. Senator Hatch...

In 2007 Civil Rights Legal Scholar Margaret Burnham launched Northeastern University's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project to document the largely unknown Black victims of racial violence in the South between the 1930s and the 1950s and the Jim Crow legal system that supported it. In her new book, "By Hands Now Known" Professor Burnham describes the systemic support for Jim Crow relates t...

Former college president and longtime educator John Agresto discusses his newest book "The Death of Learning: How American education has failed our Students and What to Do about it." Dr. Agresto is a passionate champion of liberal arts education at both the high school and college level. He makes the case that political correctness and an emphasis on skills-based degrees has devalued the liberal a...

This week, writer Javier Zamora describes the treacherous, three-thousand-mile journey he made from El Salvador to the United States when he was just nine years old. Led by coyotes, he and a group of strangers made three perilous attempts to cross into the US. Javier's parents, who had earlier migrated to California to escape the violence at home, had no idea for weeks if their only child was stil...

The Appalachian Region of Eastern Kentucky has been ravaged by coal mine closings, opioid overdoses, floods, and public corruption. In this episode, Alan Maimon, a former reporter for the Lousiville Courier-Journal, talks about his book "Twilight in Hazard" which explores the impacts on the city of Hazard, Kentucky. He also talks about "Hillbilly Elegy," J.D. Vance's bestselling book about Appalac...

Hal Brands, professor of global affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and co-author of "Danger Zone," argues that the superpower competition between the U.S. and China will reach its most dangerous point during this decade. He talks about the strategy that the Chinese government is pursuing to achieve global dominance and what the U.S. and other global powers are doing,...