Holiday Special: It's Been a Year; History's Heroes and Villains; Boredom Can Lead to Brilliance; Misogyny 101; 34 Ways of Talking about Race; Pop Music History

For Thanksgiving weekend, hear a few of our favorites:

• A year ago, Van Jones, CNN political commentator, former ‘green jobs’ advisor to President Barack Obama and the author of Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together (Ballantine Books, 2017), voiced the fears of many Americans when he asked during election night coverage, "How do I explain this to my children?" He talks about his search for a way to bridge the divide.
• Ron Chernow, author of Alexander Hamilton (the inspiration for the musical) and his new biography, Grant (Penguin Press, 2017), talks about Ulysses S. Grant and how to recognize history's heroes while acknowledging their flaws.
• Manoush Zomorodi, host and managing editor of WNYC's Note to Self and the author of Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self (St. Martin's Press, 2017), talks about resetting how we use our digital devices, and explores the benefits of boredom.
• What exactly is "misogyny" and is it different from sexism? Kate Manne, assistant professor of philosophy at Cornell University and the author of Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny (Oxford University Press, 2017), examines recent examples of the concept and defines it as a system of control.
• George Yancy, Emory University philosophy professor and the author of On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2017), talks about a series of interviews he conducted with prominent thinkers about the meaning and effects of race.
• Ann Powers, NPR Music critic and correspondent and author of GOOD BOOTY: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music (Harper Collins, 2017), talks about the evolution of popular music in America and her book.