The Colin McEnroe Show

What do recent events such as # MeToo , the election of Donald Trump , and an onslaught of mass shootings perpetrated by white men all have in common? They’ve all provoked important cultural conversations about manhood in America. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hannah Arendt's   576-page magnum opus, The Origins of Totalitarianism, is a   densely-written book about the rise of anti-Semitism up to the outbreak of World War I. The book sold out on Amazon within one month of the 2016 election in which America elected Donald Trump as their next president.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

It's Primary Day in Connecticut! We know a lot of people can't vote in today's primaries because they're either not registered with one of our two major political parties, they're one of the millions of Americans on vacation during one of our final weeks of summer, or they just don't know about it. Maybe, it's all of the above. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listen...

Many of us hoped the white nationalist movement that instigated last year's "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, would suffer a fatal blow. The majority of Americans condemned both the blatant bigotry displayed by the protesters and the president's failure to single out the nationalists as the perpetrators of the "hatred, bigotry and violence." He instead, said he saw that violence "on many...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this week announced changes to the annual Oscar awards , including a new category recognizing "outstanding achievement in popular film." Eligibility requirements and other details haven't been announced, but that hasn't stopped the film world from having strong opinions . And: Bo Burnham is a comedian, musician, and actor who was a teen YouTube star....

Sand is the most abundant material on Earth. And, other than water and air, sand is the natural resource we consume more than any other -- more, even, than oil. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When was the last time you saw someone with a disability? Do you have a loved one who is part of the community? Did you see a character on TV, or did you just pass someone on the street? For some it may take a while to answer that question. Why is that? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Times of London has said that Martin Amis "is as talented a journalist as he is a novelist." His latest collection of essays and reportage covers 1994 through 2017, Travolta through Trump. Amis joins us for the hour. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Washington Post, in The Fact Checker database they've kept since the 2016 election ,  notes an increase in the number of false or misleading claims the president has made in recent months while traveling the country to campaign for Republicans running in summer primaries. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin's quite fond of this little piece of trivia : Tom Cruise was five years older during the production of Mission: Impossible -- Fallout than Wilford Brimley was during the filming of Cocoon . And it seems we're all okay with Tom Cruise as a 56-year-old action star. Fallout 's opening weekend was the biggest for a Mission: Impossible movie and the second-biggest of Cruise's career . Fallout is...

Colin was diagnosed with melanoma several weeks ago. He had a few scary weeks between diagnosis and removal of the cancer. He's told he's clean but, what happens next?  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kneeling has historically been an act of supplication . An act of reverence, of modesty. An act of submission, even. But then Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the national anthem at football games, and eventually, the president of the United States called him and other players like him a "son of a bitch." And now a Haddam Selectman has started kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance , and...

Take a look at at any early 20th century photograph and you'll see them: Hats! From Beavers and Bowlers to bonnets and baseball caps, for hundreds of years hats were the essential accessory for any fashionable and upstanding citizen. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

George Packer wrote i n The New Yorker this weekend that the only obstacle left to prevent President Trump's full consolidation of power is public opinion. We must vote. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ariana Grande already had a top 10 hit from her forthcoming album, Sweetener . As of this week, she's got songs at numbers six and eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 with the debut of her single "God Is a Woman." The song and its video have become somewhat controversial in certain corners of the internet. And: Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl was a literary phenomenon in 2012 . In its wake, film/television...

Though country music is considered the most popular genre of music in America , its influence is profoundly regional. The style is known for appealing to the white working class, and is largely sequestered in southern and midwestern pockets of the country . Meanwhile, coastal elites tend to regard the genre with disdain. "I like everything but country" is a popular refrain . Support the show: http...

The flu virus "Clade X"   is spreading rapidly around the world through respiratory droplets.  It was first detected in Germany and Venezuela but it has made students sick at a liberal arts college in Massachusetts. Officials are reporting the virus was created in a Swiss lab and deliberately unleashed by a terrorist group intending to sabotage the National Institutes of Health. Support...

This hour, we talk about two Connecticut dance halls, each springing from the vision of two very different men who took their respective dance halls down very different paths. One's dream soared, bringing thousands of concert-goers to over 3,000 acts over an eleven-year history. The other's dream stalled, his elaborate dance hall sitting idle for decades. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/dona...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a 28-year-old Democratic socialist from New York who beat the fourth-ranked Democrat in the U.S. House in an upset primary victory in June. She won by unapologetically supporting Medicare for all and free college tuition.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hannah Gadsby is an Australian comedian and writer. Her new Netflix special is Nanette . There are certain ways it's a different sort of comedy special than you're used to. It's, for instance, more of an art history lecture than you'd probably expect. Its audience laughs much less than you're used to. And it'll probably make you cry more than other specials have. Those idiosyncrasies are just some...

During his remarkable career with the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams earned many nicknames: The Kid, The Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame... but the only nickname that he ever wanted was "the greatest hitter who ever lived." Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter series. "Criminal Minds" on CBS. In the past year, there've been "Mindhunter" on Netflix and "Manhunt: Unabomber" on Discovery. It seems we're fascinated by forensic psychology, by criminal profiling, by... mindhunting. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The octopus has always been the stuff of spine-tingling legend, like that of the Kraken, the many-armed sea monster believed to drag ships to the bottom of the sea after dining on the crew. Or   Gertie the Pus , the giant Pacific octopus that lives under the Narrows Bridge connecting Tacoma, Washington to Gig Harbor. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for...

We had planned ("planned") to do a show today about how we're getting too familiar with our sinking feelings. And then that Trump-Putin press conference happened. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Logan Roy is the head of a major media conglomerate, much like Rupert Murdoch. Also like Murdoch, he's not sure if he wants any of his kids to take over when he decides to retire. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.