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Kirsten Gillibrand | Bold and Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote Dec 14, 2018

Show notes

In conversation with award-winning journalist Tracey Matisak. On the eve of the one-hundredth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduces children to ten suffragists who raised their voices for justice. With illustrations by The New Yorker contributor and artist Maira Kalman, Bold and Brave profiles courageous visionaries including Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Alice Paul. Senator Gillibrand is also the author of the 2015 New York Times bestseller Off the Sidelines: Speak Up, Be Fearless, and Change Your World, ''one of the most helpful, readable, down-to-earth, and truly democratic books ever to come out of the halls of power'' (Gloria Steinem). (recorded 12/13/2018)

Gary Shteyngart | Lake Success Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

''Ridiculously witty and painfully prescient'' (Time), Gary Shteyngart is the author of the culturally reflective novels The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story, which was named one of the best novels of the year by The New York Times Book Review. His other work includes the National Book Critics Award finalist Little Failure, a memoir of his experiences in the dramatically dissimilar worlds of uber-consumerist America and the perpetually deprived Soviet Union of his youth. His new novel, a penetrating exploration of the ultra-rich .1%, follows a billionaire hedge-fund manager who flees New York by bus in search of simpler life. Watch the video here. (recorded 9/17/2018)

Maxwell King | The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers with David Newell ''Mr. McFeely'' of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

In conversation with award-winning journalist Tracey Matisak It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood as we welcome Maxwell King, author of The Good Neighbor, a personal, professional, and artistic biography of Fred Rogers. A figure as deceptively sophisticated as the namesake television program that brought an unerring message of kindness, compassion, and equality to millions of children, Mr. Rogers remains one of America's most beloved cultural icons. King, CEO of the Pittsburgh Foundation, former president of Heinz Endowments, and editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer for eight years, weaves archival documents and original interviews into a portrait of the man who-spoiler alert-really was as gentle and empathetic as we all hoped he'd be. Speedy delivery! Mostly known for his portrayal of Mister Rogers' deliveryman, David Newell was also the director of public relations for The Fred Rogers Company. As an ambassador for everyone's favorite neighborhood he toured the world as Mr. McFeely until his retirement in 2015. Watch the video here. (recorded 9/24/2018)

Imani Perry | Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

A professor of African American studies, public affairs, and gender and sexuality studies at Princeton University, Dr. Imani Perry is the author of More Beautiful and More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States, May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem, and Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop. Her latest book is a portrait of the short but extraordinary life of the writer of A Raisin in the Sun, whose network of friends, family, colleagues, and collaborators included the most prominent African American artists and activists of the 1960s. Watch the video here. (recorded 9/25/2018)

David Levering Lewis | The Improbable Wendell Willkie: The Businessman Who Saved the Republican Party and His Country, and Conceived a New World Order Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

In conversation with Sam Katz, civic entrepreneur and executive producer of History Making Productions Professor emeritus of history at New York University, David Levering Lewis won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 and 2001 for his ''superb'' (The Nation) two-volume biography of W.E.B. Du Bois, the polymath founder of the NAACP and a principal shaper of the Civil Rights Movement. His other books include God's Crucible, Race to Fashoda, and 1970's King, notable for being the first scholarly biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His many honors include the Bancroft Prize, the Francis Parkman Prize, and the National Humanities Medal. His latest book is a biography of the unlikely Republican nominee who would lose to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. Watch the video here. (recorded 9/26/2018)

Chris Hedges | America: The Farewell Tour Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges is the author of a dozen books, including the bestsellers War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Empire of Illusion, Wages of Rebellion, and Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt. For nearly two decades he was a New York Times foreign correspondent covering some of the most dangerous and impoverished international and domestic locales, earning wide acclaim for his eloquent and essential stories. Reported from disaffected and disenfranchised communities across the nation, America: The Farewell Tour maps the despair, xenophobia, and inequalities that have accompanied increased corporate influence on our politics. Watch the video here. (recorded 9/27/2018)

Deborah Harkness | Time's Convert Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

Working ''her own form of literary alchemy by deftly blending fantasy, romance, history, and horror'' (Chicago Tribune), Deborah Harkness is the no. 1 New York Times bestselling author of the witches-meet-vampires All Souls book trilogy. Acclaim for this work's historical and technical accuracy is unsurprising, given that she holds a doctorate in the history of magic and science in Europe, has worked in some of the world's most prestigious libraries, and taught medical history at Northwestern University. From present-day Europe to the American colonies during the Revolutionary War, Time's Convert takes a bite into new material as it spins off from the All Souls universe. Watch the video here. (recorded 10/1/2018)

Sandeep Jauhar | Heart: A History Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

Exploring little-known, behind-the-scenes work in hospitals and the all-too-human lives of doctors, Dr. Sandeep Jauhar is a practicing cardiologist and author of two bestselling medical memoirs, Intern: A Doctor's Initiation and the ''extraordinary, brave and even shocking'' (New York Times) Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician. Jauhar is a frequent contributor The Wall Street Journal, Time, NPR, and MSNBC, and has written about medicine for The New York Times for more than 20 years. In Heart, Jauhar weaves his own work with historical research and the findings of groundbreaking new technologies to tell the story of our most colorful yet inscrutable organ. Watch the video here. (recorded 10/2/2018)

Rebecca Traister | Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6ABC Action News morning edition Rebecca Traister is the author of All the Single Ladies, The New York Times bestselling book about the intersection of sex, economics, and emotions related to the growing number of single women in 21st-century America; and Big Girls Don't Cry, an investigation of the 2008 American presidential election's effects on women and cultural feminism. A contributing editor at Elle and writer-at-large for New York magazine, Traister has contributed to many other periodicals, including The Nation, Vogue, The Washington Post, and Glamour. Good and Mad is an urgent and timely exploration of the power of women's anger to affect contemporary political change and its historical precedents in changing policies and minds. Watch the video here. (recorded 10/4/2018)

John Kerry | Every Day Is Extra Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

In conversation with Michael Smerconish John Kerry is a decorated combat veteran thrice wounded in the line of duty, a five-term United States senator from Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, and four-year Secretary of State. He is currently the Distinguished Fellow for Global Affairs at Yale and the inaugural Visiting Distinguished Statesman for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His books include A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America, The New War, and This Moment on Earth. His new book is a revealing memoir that follows his journey from son of a diplomat to disillusioned Vietnam vet, longtime legislator, and world leader. Michael A. Smerconish is the host of The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM POTUS Channel 124, the host of CNN's Smerconish on Saturday mornings, a Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, and a New York Times bestselling author. Watch the video here. Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Endowed Lecture (recorded 10/5/2018)

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