President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was undoubtedly one of the greatest leaders in American History. But what do we know of his personal life? We’ll spend this hour with Joseph E. Persico, author of “Franklin and Lucy: President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rutherford, and the Other Remarkable Women in His Life” (Random House, 2008).
Read more
Who is “right” in America today? We’ll ask Arianna Huffington, the outspoken cofounder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post this hour. Her new book is “RIGHT IS WRONG: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe (and What You Need to Know to End the Madness)” (Knopf, 2008).
Read more
China is big news this year. With a rapidly expanding economy, devastating environmental issues, and (oh yeah) the Olympics just around the corner everyone’s talking about China. But how is the country changing politically and philosophically? We’ll spend this hour with Mark Leonard, Executive Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations and author of the new book “What Does China Think?” (Public Affairs, 2008).
Read more
What is the most enduring photographic image of the conflict in Iraq? Is it an image of a wounded soldier or an orphaned child, or is it the photo of a hooded Abu Ghraib detainee, balanced on a box with wires connected to his body? We’ll talk this evening with Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris. His new film about the Abu Ghraib prison controversy and its aftermath is “STANDARD OPERATING PRODCEDURE” Austin musician David Garza will join us during the Scene segment to discuss his participation in this weekend’s “Hecho en Tejas” literary and music event at the Latino Cultural Center and his inclusion in the anthology of the same name.
Read more
What makes America, America? Howard Fineman, Newsweek’s senior Washington correspondent and columnist has identified several key elements that characterize the American experience. We’ll talk with him this hour about his new book “The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates that Define and Inspire Our Country” (Random House, 2008).
Read more
What are the key elements of a successful negotiation? Robin Pinkley, professor of management and organizations at SMU’s Cox School of Business, will lead a two-day Master Negotiation class next week. We’ll get a preview this hour.
Read more
Is conflict really necessary in today’s world? We’ll talk this hour with distinguished non-violence activist and author James Douglas. He’s in town to discuss his new book “JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters” (Orbis, 2008).
Read more
Can the American election system be improved? William Poundstone thinks so. We’ll talk with him this hour about “Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair (and What We Can Do About It)” (Hill and Wang, 2008).
Read more
What’s it really like on the border between Palestine and Israel? We’ll talk this hour with British journalist Amelia Thomas, who tells the story of the only zoo veterinarian in the Palestinian territories in her new book “The Zoo on the Road to Nablus: A Story of Survival from the West Bank” (Public Affairs, 2008).
Read more
How tough is it to choose a school, a career or a health plan? What if there was a better “choice environment?” We’ll talk this hour with noted jurist and Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School and Department of Political Science, Cass R. Sunstein. He is the co-author of the new book “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” (Yale, 2008).
Read more
We might think of the information revolution as the province of IT managers and computer hackers. But it’s the librarian who must decide how to manage and categorize all the information we now have at our fingertips. We’ll visit the stacks this hour with Scott Douglas, author of “Quiet Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian” (DaCapo, 2008).
Read more
How will we solve the health care crisis? We’ll discuss the issue this hour with Camille Miller, President and CEO of the Texas Health Institute and Katie Strong, Director of Congressional and Public Affairs from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Read more