Underreported from WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show:

Breaking Through

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

On today’s show: Gary Oldman talks about his career and his Oscar-nominated role in the film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. William Wellman’s son tells us about his father’s many contributions to cinema, including Wings, the first film to win the Academy Award for best picture. Women’s boxing is included in the Olympics for the first time this year, and we’ll speak to a 16-year-old girl who hopes to compete, along with her coach and to a former pro fighter. The Peruvian Paracas Textile is the subject of today’s installment of A History of the World in 100 Objects. Plus, on our latest Please Explain, our How to Save the World series continues with a look at garbage and waste management.

Jonah Hill on "Moneyball"

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:23:28 -0500

Actor Jonah Hill discusses his career and his Oscar-nominated role as Brad Pitt’s baseball-obsessed sidekick in the film “Moneyball.”

Guest Picks: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:16:48 -0500

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was on the Lopate Show recently to discuss his latest book for children; his work with the State Department, promoting eduction; and his new documentary. He also revealed that he's a fan of Indian food!

What have you read or seen over the past year (book, play film, etc…) that moved or surprised you?

Red Tails

What are you listening to right now?

Chucho Valdes - Cuban piano player

What’s the last great book you read?

"Sweet Thunder" - Will Haygood

What’s one thing you’re a fan of that people might not expect?

horseback riding

What's your favorite comfort food?

Indian food

Guest Picks: Jonah Hill

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:52:53 -0500

Jonah Hill was on the Lopate Show recently to discuss his Oscar-nominated role in "Moneyball." He also revealed that he's a fan of architecture and interior design. Find out what he's been reading, watching and listening to!

What have you read or seen over the past year (book, play, film, etc…) that moved or surprised you?

The Book of Mormon and “Dear Zachary.”

What are you listening to right now?

Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Miike Snow.

What’s the last great book you read?

Warren Beatty’s biography, Star.

What’s one thing you’re a fan of that people might not expect?

Architecture, interior design.

What’s your favorite comfort food?

Sushi.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on His Basketball Career and Advocacy Work

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:46:12 -0500

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all time leading scorer, talks about his career in basketball, his advocacy work, and his new children’s book, What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors. It looks at some of the black inventors who have made a difference in people’s lives and in the world.

Backstory: American Manufacturing

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:25:00 -0500

More goods are being produced in American factories that in recent decades, but employment in those same facilities is falling. Adam Davidson, co-founder and co-host of Planet Money, a co-production of NPR and This American Life, discusses the decline of American manufacturing jobs and looks at why the jobs crisis will be so difficult to solve. He's the author of "Making It in America," in the January/February issue of The Atlantic.

Social Media and the 2012 Election

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:22:12 -0500

Sree Sreenivasan, professor of digital media and dean of student affairs at Columbia Journalism School, takes a look at the role social media is playing in 2012 election cycle.

Tossing the Ball

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talks about his career in the NBA, his advocacy work, and his new book for children! Jonah Hill discusses his Oscar nominated role as Brad Pitt’s nerdy sidekick in “Moneyball.” Today’s installment of A History of the World in 100 Objects looks at a Chinese ritual vessel. Plus, we’ll have our latest Backstory segments.

The Gurus of How-To on the Nuts and Bolts of Home Maintenance

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:01:55 -0500

The Gurus of How-To, Al Ubell and Larry Ubell, are here to offer advice on home repair matters, from grout to caulk to shingles and sidewalks.

Call 212-433-9692 with your questions or leave a comment below.

February's Book: The Tiger's Wife, by Téa Obreht

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:13:02 -0500

February’s Leonard Lopate Show Book Club selection is Téa Obreht’s critically acclaimed novel, The Tiger’s Wife. It tells the story of Natalia, a young doctor in an unnamed Balkan country still recovering from war, who starts investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of her grandfather who raised her. As she investigates his death, the complexities of life, war, and her grandfather’s life come to light.

Share your thoughts and questions and tune in on Wednesday, February 8, at 12:30, when Téa joins Leonard in the studio to discuss The Tiger’s Wife, which was named one of the ten best books of 2011.

Narratives from Women’s Prisons

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:13:13 -0500

Robin Levi and Ayelet Waldman, editors of Inside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women’s Prisons, and Tina Reynolds, a former prisoner who is an activist for women in New York prisons, talk about what it’s like inside women’s prisons, and the routine physical, sexual, and mental abuse that is often overlooked.

The World Inside

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

On today’s show: We’ll take a look at what life is like inside women’s prisons. Then Téa Obreht joins us for February’s installment of the Leonard Lopate Show Book Club to talk about her critically acclaimed novel, The Tiger’s Wife. Today’s A History of the World in 100 Objects looks at the Sphinx of Taharqo. And Al and Larry Ubell take your calls on home repair!

Pico Iyer on Graham Greene

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:57:07 -0500

Pico Iyer examines the closeness he has always felt to the English writer Graham Greene. In The Man Within My Head, he follows Greene’s trail from his first novel, The Man Within, to his later classics like The Quiet American looking at all he has in common with Greene: an English public school education, a lifelong restlessness and refusal to make a home anywhere, a fascination with the complications of faith.

Margot Livesey on The Flight of Gemma Hardy

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:03:25 -0500

Margot Livesey talks about her new novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy . Set in Scotland and Iceland in the 1950s and 1960s, the novel is a captivating homage to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Guest Picks: Jamal Joseph

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:06:26 -0500

Jamal Joseph was on the Lopate Show recently to describe how he went from leading the New York Black Panthers to teach at the Columbia School of the Arts. He also told us what his favorite comfort food is!

What have you read or seen over the past year (book, play, film, etc…) that moved or surprised you?

Daniel Beaty’s one man show “Through the Night” is a celebration of moving from pain to power in our lives. Quite moving and his performance of 16 characters is stunning.

What are you listening to right now?

I’m listening to John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Also Talib Kweli and Common.

What’s the last great book you read?

Malcolm X by Manning Marable; a really powerful investigation of Malcolm X’s life.

What’s one thing you’re a fan of that people might not expect?

I love science fiction, especially space adventures like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. I want to come back as a starship captain in my next life.

What’s your favorite comfort food?

Japanese food—sushi or salmon teriyaki. As a black man it should be soul food—fish and grits—but I think I was a Samurai warrior in a previous life.

Guest Picks: Pico Iyer

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:00:25 -0500

Writer Pico Iyer spoke to Leonard Lopate recently about exploring the parallels he saw between his life and the writer Graham Greene's. He also told us that his favorite comfort food is a cup of strong black English tea. Find out what else he's a fan of!

What have you read or seen over the past year (book, play, film, etc…) that moved or surprised you?

Bill Cunningham: New York, last year’s stunning documentary. I’d never heard of him before, I have no interest in fashion, and yet I found this mix of sweetness, optimism, austerity and depth as moving and illuminating as anything I’ve seen.

What are you listening to right now?

Leonard Cohen’s new collection of late, austere hymns, Old Ideas, and always—always—Sigur Rós, not least in their stirring new live double cd.

What’s the last great book you read?

Changing My Mind, Zadie Smith’s collection of essays. It’s humbling and inspiring to encounter a writer, and such a young one, with such extraordinary wisdom, humility, openness and range. She can—and does—write astonishing memoir, reportage, lecture, literary criticism, and political essay.

What’s one thing you’re a fan of that people might not expect?

McDonald’s (but I’d better keep quiet about that). And the Metallica documentary, Some Kind of Monster.

What’s your favorite comfort food?

Strong black English tea.

Guest Picks: Margot Livesey

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:56:33 -0500

Novelist Margot Livesey was on the Leonard Lopate Show recently to discuss her latest book, The Flight of Gemma Hardy. She also shared what she's been reading lately -- and revealed that she's a fan of seals!

What have you read or seen over the past year (book, play, film, etc…) that moved or surprised you?

Wim Wenders’ film about Pina Bausch. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I re-read Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier and adored it. I really like Eleanor Henderson’s Ten Thousand Saints.

What are you listening to right now?

Bill Evans and Bach.

What’s the last great book you read?

Lily Tuck’s novel I Married You for Happiness.

What’s one thing you’re a fan of that people might not expect?

Birds and trains and seals. (Sorry! Pick one.)

What’s your favorite comfort food?

Macaroni and cheese.

Fear and Loathing on the Populist Right

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:52:37 -0500

From “Birthers” who claim that President Obama was not born in the United States to those who believe that the Constitution is in danger of being replaced with Sharia law, conspiratorial beliefs have become increasingly common in our public discourse. Arthur Goldwag explores the ideas and rhetoric that have animated extreme, mostly right-wing movements throughout American history. His new book is The New Hate: A History of Fear and Loathing on the Populist Right.

Jamal Jospeph on His Life of Rebellion and Reinvention

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:36:40 -0500

Jamal Jospeph tells the story of his personal odyssey from the streets of Harlem to Riker’s Island and Leavenworth to Columbia University. In Panther Baby: A Life of Rebellion and Reinvention he reveals what it meant to be a soldier inside the militant Black Panther movement in the 1960s. After being entenced to more than twelve years in Leavenworth, he earned three degrees there and found a new calling, turning his life around.

Proposition 8 Ruling

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:36:22 -0500

NYU law professor Kenji Yoshino, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law, discusses the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 today.

Influences

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

On today’s show: We’ll get a history of the populist Right in the United States. Pico Iyer discusses his fondness for the writer Graham Greene. The BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects continues with a look at the 2,700 year old Lachish Reliefs. Margot Livesey tells us about her new novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy. And Jamal Joseph, former spokesman and leader of the New York Black Panthers, talks about his time with the group and how he found a new calling in prison.

Guest Picks: Michael Oher

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:08:02 -0500

Baltimore Ravens left tackle Michael Oher was on the Lopate Show recently to talk about how he went from being a homeless teenager to an NFL. He also told us what he's been reading and watching recently!

What have you read or seen over the past year (book, play film, etc…) that moved or surprised you?

Movie: The Help

What are you listening to right now?

Drake - Take Care

What’s the last great book you read?

"The Godfather"

What’s one thing you’re a fan of that people might not expect?

Women's Basketball (Pat Summit)

What's your favorite comfort food?

Subway

Michael Oher Beat the Odds

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:59:19 -0500

Michael Oher, the football star made famous in the book and movie The Blind Side, talks about rising above the circumstances of his youth. In I Beat the Odds, Oher looks back on how he went from being a homeless child in Memphis to playing in the NFL, and looks at how he broke out of the cycle of poverty, addiction, and hopelessness that trapped his family.

Two Insiders on the Dark Side of American Politics

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:56:30 -0500

Former journalists Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian talk about opposition research—the little-understood industry of trying to bring candidates’ weaknesses to light—and how it has become an integral part of the campaign process. We’re with Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics is an account of their work as opposition researchers—an adventure across the American political landscape and through the often seamy underbelly of U.S. politics.

Debt, Money, and the New World Order

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:12:28 -0500

Economist columnist Philip Coggan discusses why western economies have splurged on debt in the past 40 years, and what the repercussions are. In Paper Promises: Debt, Money, and the New World Order explains the origins of the debt crisis and how it will affect the new global economy.

Krys Lee on Drifting House

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:59:05 -0500

Krys Lee talks about her collection of short stories, Drifting House. Her stories illuminate the Korean immigrant experience—from children escaping famine in North Korea to recent arrivals in America, whose lives play out in cramped apartments and Koreatown strip malls.

Turning the Page

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

On today’s show: two former opposition researchers explain how their field has become an integral part of modern political campaigning. Michael Oher, the football player who inspired the book and film The Blind Side, talks about his life and upbringing. The BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects continues with a look at a colossal statue of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses the Second. Krys Lee tells us about her collection of short stories, called Drifting House. And we’ll look at how the creditors in today’s global economy—namely China and the Middle East—will help shape much of the coming century.

Please Explain: How to Save the World—Climate Change and How to Stop It

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:46:39 -0500

This week’s Please Explain, the third in our series How to Save the World, is about climate change and how to stop it. David Archer, professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, and author of The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of the Earth’s Climate, and Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast; and Klaus Lackner, Director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia University’s Earth Institute join us to talk about carbon in the atmosphere, how and why it is causing climate change, and how to slow or stop climate change by using sustainable energy and carbon sequestration.

Guest Picks: Cynthia Nixon

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:45:58 -0500

Cynthia Nixon was on the Leonard Lopate Show recently to talk about starring in the Broadway production of "Wit." She also told us that she's a huge fan of Garrison Keillor's. Find out what else she's a fan of!

What have you read or seen lately (book, play, film, etc.) that moved or surprised you?

I read David Copperfield this summer, which I have meant to read ever since a friend of mine quoted a passage as a wish for my unborn daughter at her baby shower 16 years ago. I was unprepared for how the cruelty of David’s step-father and the ineffectuality of his mother would affect me – I found it completely crushing.

What are you listening to right now?

Nothing too new, I’m afraid. Same old, same old – folk music and show tunes. Although Mary J. Blige came to my play recently, so I’ve been listening to her a bit. I love her.

What’s the last great book you read?

I am in the midst of Julie Salamon’s biography “Wendy and the Lost Boys” about Wendy Wasserstein. Think it is fascinating and captures so much about Wendy, although there are certain things in it that I didn’t know about her, that I find very sad.

What’s one thing you’re a fan of that people might not expect?

I am the world’s biggest Garrison Keillor fan.

What’s your favorite comfort food?

Risotto. Also grilled cheese sandwiches. Pretty much anything involving cheese, especially if it’s warm.

Cynthia Nixon on "Wit"

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:45:28 -0500

Tony– and Emmy Award–winner Cynthia Nixon discusses her role in “Wit,” where she portrays a brilliant and exacting poetry professor undergoing an experimental treatment for cancer. A scholar who devoted her life to academia, she must now face the irony and injustice of becoming the subject of research.

Things We Learned This Week

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:27:29 -0500

A compilation of the random, unknown, and maybe important things we at the Lopate Show learned during the week of January 30.

Mercury is cropping up everywhere! Tree leaves, soil, insects and now some songbirds and bats.

Telling a person you’re working in an orphanage in Nepal is a great pick-up line.

“Unfortunately, [Sigmund Freud] was on cocaine when he wrote ‘On Cocaine.’”

Super PAC’s and some of the non-profits which fund them are incredibly confusing. Here’s why…

Freaked out by the mild winter we’re having? Blame it on the jet stream.

What's Causing One of the Driest, Warmest Winters in History

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:15:53 -0500

Mark Fischetti, senior editor at Scientific American, explains why this winter has been unusually warm and dry across most of North America.

John Seabrook on YouTube

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:07:36 -0500

John Seabrook talks about YouTube and the other new professionally produced channels that it plans to roll out over the next six months. It is part of a larger strategy, designed by YouTube’s Robert Kyncl and Salar Kamangar, to increase the amount of time people spend on the site. His article “Streaming Dreams: YouTube Turns Pro” appeared in the January 16 issue of The New Yorker.

Watch This

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The New Yorker’s John Seabrook tells us what YouTube is doing to maintain its competitive edge. Tony- and Emmy award-winner Cynthia Nixon on her role in the Broadway revival of Margaret Edsen’s Pulitzer Prize winning play,“Wit.” The BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects takes a look at a form fitting gold cape that had been worn by a very powerful person in Bronze Age Britain. Then, we’ll take the temperature on the unusually warm weather we’ve been having. Plus, the next installment in our Please Explain series on How to Save the World takes a look at efforts to combat climate change.

Design in Nature

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:59:50 -0500

Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a the Constructal Law accounts for the evolution of these and all other designs in our world. Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, and Social Organization, written with J. Peder Zane, looks at how everything—from biological life to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow.

Backstory: Super-PACs

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:58:08 -0500

ProPublica’s Kim Barker and Al Shaw take a look at the role Super-PACs are playing in the 2012 election.

Backstory: Diplomacy Surrounding Syria

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:43:14 -0500

Last month, the Arab League sent a team of observers to Syria, where the government has been cracking down on protesters. Colum Lynch, who writes the Turtle Bay blog for Foreign Policy and reports on the United Nations for the Washington Post, explains what internal Arab League memos reveal about the mission in Syria. Plus, a look at why Russia opposed the United Nations Security Council measure to condemn the Syrian government during a meeting on Tuesday.

A Slave in the White House

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:21:20 -0500

Elizabeth Dowling Taylor tells the story of Paul Jennings, who was born into slavery on the plantation of James and Dolley Madison in Virginia, and later became part of the Madison household staff at the White House. Her book A Slave in the White House is based on correspondence, legal documents, and journal entries rarely seen before, and reveals attitudes toward slavery of the 19th century.

The Natural Order

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

On today’s show: We’ll take a look at how a single principle of physics, constructural law, can help explain symmetries in evolutionary design. Then, we’ll hear about the life of Paul Jennings, a slave who served President James Madison in the White House. Today’s installment of the BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects looks at a tiny statue of a Minoan bull leaper. Plus our latest Backstory segments look at Super-PACs and what roles they play in the primaries, and we’ll also find out what’s happening in Syria.

Howard Markel and Amanda Smith discuss Addiction

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:18:26 -0500

Howard Markel and Amanda Smith discuss the evolution of the term “addiction.” Howard Markel's An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine traces the story of two Sigmund Freud and William Halsted, a New York surgeon. The book analyzes their powerful addiction to cocaine and how they ultimately changed the world in spite of it—or because of it. One became the father of psychoanalysis; the other of modern surgery. Amanda Smith is the author of Newspaper Titan: The Infamous Life and Monumental Times of Cissy Patterson, which touches upon the drinking life of Patterson's daughter Felicia, who, in 1943, was one of the first women to enter Alcoholics Anonymous.

Adam Johnson on His Novel, The Orphan Master’s Son

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:05:57 -0500

Adam Johnson describes his latest novel, The Orphan Master’s Son, which follows a young man’s journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and spy chambers of North Korea, the world’s most mysterious dictatorship. Part thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, the novel is a portrait of a world hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, beauty, and love.

Old Behind Bars

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:55:34 -0500

Jamie Fellner, a Senior Advisor, U.S. Program, Human Rights Watch, talks about the soaring number of aging prisoners. The Human Rights Watch report “Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States” documents the dramatic increases in the number of older U.S. prisoners and the need for the prison system to adapt.

Jin Xing Dancing at the Joyce

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:52:16 -0500

The acclaimed Chinese dancer Jin Xing discusses her performances at the Joyce Theater January 31 – February 5. Xing Jing was born a man in China in 1967 and began dancing at age 6, later joining the national ballet company, traveling the world dancing and training with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. Then Xing Jing decided to undergo a sex change. She founded the Jin Xing Dance Theatre Shanghai and is dancing in New York the first time ever as a woman.

An Evolution

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

On today’s show: Jamie Fellner, of Human Rights Watch, talks about a new report on the soaring number of aging prisoners in the United States. Acclaimed Chinese dancer Jin Xing discusses her performance at the Joyce Theater and her first appearance in New York dancing as a woman. A History of the World in 100 Objects continues with a look at the Rhind mathematical papyrus. Adam Johnson talks about his latest novel, The Orphan Master’s Son. Plus, two biographers turn their attention to the evolution of the term “addiction.”

Robert Harris on His Novel The Fear Index

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:03:28 -0500

Robert Harris talks about his international bestselling novel, The Fear Index, which gives a glimpse into an all-too-recognizable world of greed and panic.

The Lost Children of Nepal

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:02:13 -0500

Conor Grennan tells how a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children’s Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal, led to a commitment to reunite the children, who were taken from their parents by child traffickers, with their families. His memoir is Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal.

Ryan Lizza on the Obama Presidency and the Florida Primary

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:30:55 -0500

New Yorker staff writer Ryan Lizza gives an in-depth look at the first three years of Obama’s Presidency, and through interviews and internal White House memos —which have never been released to the public—with Obama’s handwritten notes, reveals how the President struggles with important decisions. The article “The Obama Memos” is in the January 30 issue of The New Yorker. Ryan Lizza will also report on what’s going on in Florida during that state’s primary.

Happy Birthday, Philip Glass!

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:20:11 -0500

The composer Philip Glass turns 75 today, so we thought we'd share some of our recent interviews with him. He was last on the show in November to talk about his opera, "Satyagraha," which was playing at the Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. Glass was also on the show in December 2008 to discuss "The Glass Box," a box set retrospective of his work.

He's on Soundcheck today to talk about his Symphony No. 9. Check out WQXR's blog The Operavore's "Choose Your Own Operatic Philip Glass Adventure."

Doctors Without Borders and Humanitarian Negotiations

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:02:02 -0500

Michael Neuman explores the practical realities of conducting humanitarian negotiations in complex situations. He’s the editor of Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience, published on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which addresses the evolution of humanitarian goals, the resistance to these goals, and the political arrangements that overcame (or failed to) this resistance.

A Helping Hand

listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Michael Neuman of Doctors Without Borders talks about how his organization carries out delicate humanitarian negotiations in hostile environments. Conor Grennan discusses his work with victims of child trafficking victims in Nepal. The BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects continues with a look at an early flood tablet. Robert Harris talks about his best-selling novel The Fear Index. Plus, New Yorker staff writer Ryan Lizza explains what internal memos can tell us about the Obama Administration, and he’ll give us an update on the Florida Primary!