On Demand
The Leonard Lopate Show Archive
April 2004
The Pentagon’s New Map
Friday, April 30, 2004
Thomas Barnett, a professor and senior military analyst for the U.S. Naval War College, knows the workings of the Pentagon and State Department, and he’s here to explain how he thinks the U.S. should deal with increasing security threats. He believes that Americans have a responsibility to create a better world, and that globalization is the best way to achieve that. Then filmmakers Tareque and Catherine Masud talk about their new film, "The Clay Bird". It’s set in 1960s East Pakistan, in the years leading up to Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan. And a discussion with soprano Dawn Upshaw on being the first vocal artist to be featured in a Carnegie Hall "Perspectives" Series.
The State of the Planet
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Airs weekdays at 12PM
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, examines the relationship between the human condition and the condition of the Earth. He’s come up with some ideas for achieving global development while still protecting the world’s ecosystems and biodiversity. Then biographer Ron Chernow explains why Alexander Hamilton has never been accorded the same iconic standing as some of the other founding fathers, like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Rachel Cohen surveys American art and literature from the Civil War to the civil rights movement. And the Next Frontier series continues with John Hare, who’s recreated Hanns Vischer’s 1906 expedition across the Sahara on camelback.
Y Not?
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Sperm counts are declining and percentages of abnormal sperm are rising in many parts of the world. Are we headed towards a world without men? Brian Sykes, one of the world’s premier geneticists, predicts that the Y chromosome could someday cease to exist. Then, biographer Simon Sebag Montefiore details everything from the daily routines to the horrific crimes of Josef Stalin and his entourage. New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast talks about a new collection of her cartoons from 1995 to 2003. It’s called The Party, After You Left. And our Next Frontier series continues with Dr. Juris Zarins, who’s combing the Middle East for the fabled ancient city of Ubar.
Oppenheimer
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was largely responsible for the creation of the atom bomb, one of the most destructive forces known to man; according to a new biography by Jeremy Bernstein, he exhibited destructive tendencies in his own personal life as well. Bernstein, a physicist himself, is here to talk about Oppenheimer’s life and work. Then banjoist Bela Fleck and bassist Edgar Meyer team up and perform from their new recording, Music for Two. Bernard Lewis, one of the world’s leading experts on Islam, talks about Middle Eastern history and foreign affairs from the last four decades. And we continue with The Next Frontier series with Dr. Sam Marshall, who’s been tracking the elusive goliath bird-eating tarantula in some of the most remote parts of the Amazon rain forest.
The Arabs and the Jews
Monday, April 26, 2004
Itamar Rabinovich, a former chief negotiator for Israel, leads us through the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict. An expanded edition of his classic book, Waging Peace: Israel and the Arabs, 1948-2003, is being re-issued to include the effects of the 2003 war in Iraq. Then Sean Jacobs, director of the Ten Years of Freedom Film Festival, and Johannesburg filmmaker Norman Maake talk about art and politics in the new South Africa. Katie Cadigan and John Cadigan on their new documentary, "People Say I'm Crazy." It’s about John’s struggle with schizophrenia. And we kick off our modern day explorers series called "The Next Frontier" with astrophysicist Edward Turner, who’s been looking for extra-solar planets.
Haiti's Hero
Friday, April 23, 2004
Jean Dominique was a determined fighter of poverty, injustice, and oppression in Haiti. Filmmaker Jonathan Demme’s latest, "The Agronomist,", is a cinematic portrait of the slain Haitian national hero, and he’s here with Michele Montas, Dominique’s widow and a journalist herself, to talk about Dominique’s unsolved murder. Then, a discussion with Ian Buruma on the phenomenon of Occidentalism and how Asians, Russians, and Middle Easterners perceive the West. And Cheryl Reed takes an inside look at the lives of modern North American nuns.
A Hard Pill to Swallow
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Prescription drugs cost a fortune. Drug companies insist that that's because of the high costs of research and development, but journalist Merrill Goozner argues that taxpayers are actually getting screwed by footing the bill for government-funded medical research, and then paying again for astronomically expensive prescription drugs. Philosopher/scientist Joshua Greene and science essayist Carl Zimmer discuss the science of right and wrong. Then Alex Matthiessen, executive director of Riverkeeper, City Councilman David Yassky, and Exxon Valdez scientist Dr. Stanley "Jeep" Rice on one of the world's largest underground oil spills - right here in New York, in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. And George Minot shares his novel, The Blue Bowl.
Doc day
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Word maven Patricia T. O'Conner answers all your English language and grammar questions. Call 212-267-WNYC. Actor Nick Nolte and director Michael Almereyda talk about "This So-Called Disaster," their documentary about rehearsals for a staging of a Sam Shepard play. Then jockeys Chris Rosier and Randy Romero explain why they've chosen to make a career out of risking their lives on the backs of huge, galloping thoroughbreds. They are joined by filmmaker Kate Davis, who has made a documentary about their lives for HBO called "Jockeys." And another documentary-maker, Jennifer Dworkin, talks about "Love and Diane." Dworkin follows one family as they try to break out of a cycle of drug abuse and poverty.
Milosevic
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
The Butcher of the Balkans? Former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic is currently on trial for war crimes at the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague. Biographer Adam LeBor analyzes Milosevic’s rise to the Serbian presidency, his missteps, and his subsequent collapse. Thomas Doherty explains why television both helped to incite McCarthyism and hastened the decline of anti-communist hysteria. Then, we take a look into the 2001 Olympiad, the world’s toughest high school math competition, with science writer Steve Olson and math whiz David Shin. And Welsh poet Owen Sheers reconstructs his great-great-uncle’s long missionary career in colonial southern Rhodesia in The Dust Diaries.
Clean for Gene
Monday, April 19, 2004
Biographer Dominic Sandbrook takes a close (and rather critical) look at Eugene McCarthy's life and political career, and particularly his role in the the 1968 Democratic presidential race. Then Richard Kluger talks about race relations and the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education in the United States. Mystery writer Donna Leon on her 13th Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery. This latest is called Doctored Evidence. And actor Martin Moran on his new one-man play, "The Tricky Part." It's an examination of his complicated first experience with sex as a 12-year old altar boy.
The Art of Bollywood
Friday, April 16, 2004
Worldwide, India’s Bollywood film industry may be just about as famous as Hollywood’s. Filmmakers Shashanka Ghosh and Vishal Bharadwaj and Cinema India! director Radha Welt Vasal are in the studio today to talk about the changing face of Indian cinema. Then Grace Schulman discusses the life and work of American poet Marianne Moore. Ms. Schulman, a poet herself, is the editor of a new comprehensive volume of Moore’s poems. And actress Tilda Swinton on her role in the new film "Young Adam."
Behind Every Successful Man...
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Everyone hears about the founding fathers, but what about the founding mothers? Cokie Roberts of ABC News and NPR looks at the women behind some of America’s most famous men - Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Eliza Pinckney, among others. Then, historian David Fromkin tells why he holds Germany and Austro-Hungary largely responsible for the outbreak of World War I. We celebrate Tax Day with Richard Yancey, who describes his two-year tour of duty as a tax collector for the IRS. And Alison Jolly on Tandroy tribal culture in southern Madagascar.
Fix-it
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
If you’ve been spring cleaning, you might have noticed a few things around the house that need to be patched up. Call 212-267-WNYC and fix-it gurus Al and Larry Ubell will answer your home repair questions. Then, Arianna Huffington’s got a game plan for fixing what she sees as a damaged political system. She criticizes the Democrats for having been "in complete denial." Neal Bascomb tells the story of three 1950s athletes with one goal – to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Wes Santee, a Kansas farm boy and one of those athletes, is here too. And Ben Sherwood shares his new novel, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.
Remembrance of Things Paris
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
From post-war food shortages to Alice B. Toklas to three-star cuisine and slow food, Paris is one of the world’s capitols of gastronomy. Food writer and editor Ruth Reichl talks with Leonard about Parisian food. Then Laura Shapiro looks at food across the Atlantic – the reinvention of American eating habits after World War II. Philip Longman challenges the commonplace belief that we should be worrying about global overpopulation – he thinks that reduced fertility and global aging are the real problems. And we take a look at the life of Gordon Langley Hall, a society figure who became known as Dawn Langley Hall after a sex change operation in the 1960s.
Muckrakers
Monday, April 12, 2004
Pacifica Network radio host and famous muckraker Amy Goodman’s mantra is, "Go where the silence is and say something." She’s here to talk about the relationship between major political figures and media conglomerates, and how that's affecting the situation in Iraq. Then a discussion with New Yorker writer David Samuels on the controversy surrounding the James ossuary, the burial box that bears an alleged reference to Jesus. Many are calling it a forgery. Robert Sullivan takes an inside look at the world of New York City’s most unwanted inhabitants – rats! Plus, punctuation expert Lynne Truss explains once and for all where those apostrophes and commas should go, and why.
Easter Celebration: Gospels, Spirituals and Hymns
Friday, April 09, 2004
Leonard starts off the show by resurrecting some of his gospel music favorites in celebration of Easter. Then, guest host Marty Goldensohn sits in for Leonard for the rest of the show – first he talks with film scholar Kevin Brownlow about the legend of Cecil B. DeMille. Brownlow worked with DeMille’s family and collaborators to make a new documentary about the director. Then Ann Bookman explains how she thinks America’s working families can survive increasingly rigid work schedules, long commutes, and inadequate access to child care.
ETA
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Peter Eisner, Washington Post deputy foreign editor, discusses the history of terrorism in Spain and Europe, and the origins of ETA, the Basque separatist organization. Abigail Garner, author of Families Like Mine on children of gay parents. Then, Tom Stanton, author of Hank Aaron, examines the home run that changed America. And Barbara Sternig talks about her 20 years on the National Enquirer's Hollywood beat and shares her secrets of a tabloid reporter.
Rwanda, Ten Years Later
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Veteran humanitarian aid worker, Dominic MacSorley, who was Concern Worldwide's director in Rwanda immediately after the genocide, discusses the situation there ten years later. He is joined by Anne Aghion, who directed a film called "In Rwanda We Say the Family that does not Speak Dies." Evelyn Monahan talks about frontline Army nurses in WWII. Then, actor/comedian Denis Leary and Ann Leary on their life together, and with child. Ann's memoir is called An Innocent, a Broad. Tom Perrotta shares his new novel, Little Children.
The Devil’s Highway
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Susan Jacoby examines the history of American secularism and her book Freethinkers. Then, a closer look into the "Yuma 14," a group of illegal immigrants who became lost and died in the Arizona desert shortly after crossing the Mexican border in 2001. Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil’s Highway, tells their story and examines border issues. Designer and critic Jessica Helfand discusses the art of circular charting. And Bruce Murkoff shares his novel, Waterborne.
Smart Alliance
Monday, April 05, 2004
J. Gary Taylor and Patricia Scharlin talk about Chiquita Brands International’s efforts to work with local worker and environmental groups for a cooperative approach to business. Robert Whiting looks into the recent phenomenon of Japanese ballplayers making it big in America and their impact on the game. Then, a conversation with Fess Parker, widely known for his role in Davy Crockett. And Isaias orozco-lang shares his photographs from the Dominican Republic, "Glimpses of La Yaguita."
Eggs-elent Eats
Friday, April 02, 2004
We look beyond matzo brei and dyed eggs. Chefs/restaurateurs Carrie Levin and Peter Hoffman join pastry chef Francois Payard for a discussion about Passover and Easter food. Then Mark Dunn explains his unusual new novel, Ibid: A Life. It purports to be a biography of a three-legged man, Jonathan Bashette, and it takes the form of a collection of footnotes. And actress/playwright Lisa Kron and director Leigh Silverman on their new play, now at the Public Theatre.
The Real Thing?
Thursday, April 01, 2004
It can be hard to determine what's fake and what's real in the art world. Ronald Spencer is here to talk about the authenticity of visual art; he’s joined by art historian Francis V. O'Connor and Michael Findlay, director of Acquavella Galleries. Julian Gregory discusses his one-man show "My Life Not in Pictures." Then Constance Hays gives on insider’s view of the rise of Coca-Cola, now an American icon and perhaps the world’s most powerful brand. Hong Kong film star Stephen Chow talks about the making of his latest movie, 'Shaolin Soccer.' And David Auburn, prize-winning playwright, on his stage adaptation of 'The Journals of Mihail Sebastian".
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