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AW: Eve Ewing, "Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism" Feb 23, 2025

Show notes

Professor Eve Ewing argues that education systems in the United States have been designed to reinforce racial inequality at the expense of Black & Native children. She's interviewed by Associate Press editor Alia Wong.

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BN+: Sean McMeekin, "July 1914" Feb 18, 2025

Show notes

A little over 100 years ago was the beginning of what's often been called the Great War. World War I had military casualties of over nine million and millions more of civilians. Professor Sean McMeekin of Bard College, located in New York State, has written 9 books since 2003 on subjects that include German history, Russian history, the Ottoman Empire, communism, World War II, and one titled "July 1914." This last book is the focus of our conversation with Professor McMeekin. World War I was triggered in late June of 1914 by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, Bosnia. They were gunned down by a Serbian 19-year-old by the name of Gavrilo Princip.

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Q&A: Louis Ferrante, "Borgata: Clash of Titans" PART 1 Feb 17, 2025

Show notes

Former mafia associate Louis Ferrante talks about "Borgata: Clash of Titans," volume two of his history of the American mafia that covers the years 1960-1985. In part one of a two-part interview, he gives a history of the mafia in America, discusses Attorney General Robert Kennedy's war against organized crime and the involvement that he says the mafia had in the 1960 election and 1963 assassination of President John Kennedy. Mr. Ferrante also shares stories about his time as a heist expert for the Gambino crime family, which led to his imprisonment in 1994.

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AW: Anson Frericks, "Last Call for Bud Light" Feb 16, 2025

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Former president of Anheuser-Busch Sales & Distribution Company Anson Frericks offers his insight to the Bud Light controversy, declining sales & its future. He was interviewed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute senior fellow Richard Morrison.

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BN+: David Levering Lewis, "The Stained Glass Window" Feb 11, 2025

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David Levering Lewis is an American historian and retired professor from New York University. He's the author of 12 books and the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for his two volumes on the life of W.E.B. DuBois. At 88 years old, Prof. Lewis has written a memoir that, as he says, focuses on "a past I barely knew." He a native of St. Louis, MO, with degrees from Fisk, Columbia, and the London School of Economics. The title of Prof. Lewis' latest book is "The Stained Glass Window: A Family History as the American Story, 1790-1958." In his prologue, he writes: "Africans in America had been both unique victims and unimpeachable critics of a nation corrupted at its inception by a political economy anchored to slavery."

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Q&A: Reginald Dwayne Betts on Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Feb 10, 2025

Show notes

Reginald Dwayne Betts originally read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail" – King's defense of the use of nonviolent civil disobedience in the fight for civil rights – while in solitary confinement in prison. Mr. Betts, who served over 8 years for a carjacking he committed when he was 16, went on to become an award-winning poet and graduate of Yale Law School. He has written the Afterword for a new commemorative edition of Dr. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Mr Betts talks about the book and the work done by Freedom Reads, an organization he founded that builds libraries in prisons.

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AW: Omo Moses, "The White Peril - A Family Memoir" Feb 09, 2025

Show notes

Omo Moses, son of civil rights organizer Robert Moses, talks about being Black in America through the voices of three generations of the Moses family. He's interviewed by University of Maryland, Baltimore County emeritus president Freeman Hrabowski.

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BN+: Jane Calvert, "Penman of the Founding" Feb 04, 2025

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John Dickinson is one of the most significant founders of the United States who is not well known by the American public. Author Jane Calvert is trying to change that with her new biography "Penman of the Founding." John Dickinson is known for his 9 essays under the title Fabius, published anonymously in newspapers during the time that the states were deciding on whether to approve the new Constitution. John Dickinson of Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania was the only founding figure present and active in every phase of the American Revolution, from the Stamp Act Crisis to the ratification of the Constitution.

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Q&A: Judge Frederic Block, "A Second Chance" Feb 03, 2025

Show notes

U.S. District Court judge Frederic Block (Eastern District of New York) talks about the application of the 2018 First Step Act, under which federal prisoners who have served decades in prison can petition the court for reductions in their sentences. The bi-partisan act, signed into law by President Trump during his first term, was created to address the excesses in federal sentencing during the 1980s and 90s, reduce the size of the federal prison population, and promote rehabilitation. In his book, "A Second Chance," Judge Block discusses the outcomes for 6 defendants – including mafia hitmen, a child pornographer, and a rogue policeman – who petitioned him for their release.

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After Words: Eva Dou, House of Huawei - The Secret History of China's Most Powerful Company" Feb 02, 2025

Show notes

The Washington Post's Eva Dou explains how Huawei became China's most powerful company & what that means for its global competitors. She was interviewed by author and Council on Foreign Relations emerging technologies and national security chair Adam Segal.

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