Banned books are visible at the Central Library, a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library system, in New York City on Thursday, July 7, 2022.

Queens Assembly Member Mamdani; Novelist Jodi Picoult on Banned Books; A Sociologist on Poverty in America; Orchids at the NYBG

The Brian Lehrer Show | Mar 27, 2023

Coming up on today's show: 

  • Zohran K. Mamdani, New York assembly member (D, D-36 in Queens), discusses the state budget process and potential fixes for the MTA.

  • In a recent op-ed for the Daily Beast, bestselling author Jodi Picoult condemned the removal of several books, including 20 of her own, from a school district in Florida. Many of these challenges were filed by a single person. Jodi Picoult and Suzanne Nossel, PEN America chief executive officer, explain what's at stake as states and local governments continue to ban books.

  • Matthew Desmond, sociology professor at Princeton University, 2015 MacArthur fellow, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (Crown, 2016) and his latest, Poverty, by America (Crown, 2023), draws on research and reporting to make the case that poverty persists in the U.S. (at higher levels than in other advanced economies) because affluent Americans benefit from it.

  • Marc Hachadourian, New York Botanical Garden's director of glasshouse horticulture and curator of orchids, discusses the New York Botanical Garden's Orchid Show and gives tips to listeners on how to care for them.

Transcripts are posted to each segment as they become available.

 

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