Where does the U.S. currently stand in Iraq? How long will our military be involved and can the insurgency be controlled? Thomas E. Ricks, Pulitzer Prize-winning senior Pentagon correspondent for The Washington Post, interviewed more than 100 senior U.S. military officers and reviewed more than 30,000 pages of official documents while researching his book “Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq” (Penguin Books). Thomas Ricks will join us for the hour.
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Many have predicted it. And now, a Grantham Prize-winning Los Angeles Times series “Altered Oceans” confirms that the Earth’s oceans are becoming toxic and possibly threatening the stability of life on the planet. We’ll spend this hour with Kenneth Weiss, who along with Usha Lee McFarling and photographer Rick Loomis, wrote the five-part series.
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How would a Giuliani presidency look? We’ll spend this hour with Kevin Baker, whose article “A Fate Worse than Bush: Rudolph Giuliani and the Politics of Personality” appears in the August issue of HARPER’S Magazine.
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When was the last time you read a comic book? Comic books -now called graphic novels – are experiencing a surge in popularity and according to critic Douglas Wolk, shaping contemporary culture. He’ll join us this hour to discuss the genre and his new book “Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean” (Da Capo Press, 2007).
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Almost two years after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, many stories are just now emerging from the flood. Joshua Clark has one of those stories to tell. A survivor of the hurricane who chose not to evacuate, Clark became a correspondent for both NPR and Slate during the storm’s aftermath. He’ll join us this hour to discuss his just-released memoir “Heart Like Water: Surviving Katrina and Life in Its Disaster Zone” (Free Press, 2007).
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Have you finished the latest Harry Potter book yet? We’ll discuss the Harry Potter phenomenon this hour and its place in literature for children (and adults) with Dr. Jean Greenlaw, Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of North Texas and Debby Jennings, Head Librarian at Fort Worth’s Country Day School and Adjunct Professor in UNT’s School of Library and Information Sciences.
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How will biotechnology touch your life? Chances are it already has. We’ll explore the rapid growth of an industry that was virtually non-existent a few decades ago with Moira A. Gunn, Ph.D. Gunn is the author of “Welcome to Biotech Nation: My Unexpected Odyssey into the Land of Small Molecules, Lean Genes, and Big Ideas” (Amacom, 2007).
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Are religions immune to change? Who has the power within large church organizations and what are some ministers doing to spark change? We’ll spend this hour with Journalist Michael Erard whose report on the recent Southern Baptist Convention, “Don’t Stop Believing: Renegade Bloggers Besiege the Southern Baptist Convention,” appears in the current issue of the Texas Observer. We’ll also be joined by Ben Cole, Pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, who is profiled in the piece.
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As the singer says, “if you go down to Deep Ellum, put your money in your shoe.” But the area is changing. How will Deep Ellum embrace the future while keeping an eye on its past? We’ll discuss the landmark Dallas area this hour with documentarian, author, playwright, and historian Alan Govenar. Gianna Madrini, President of the Deep Ellum Association and Mark Roberts, a new Association board member and business owner will join us for the hour as well.
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Where is the world of letters headed and how does a writer get noticed by publishers and reviewers? The UNT Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference aims to answer those questions later this week. We’ll talk this hour with Nan Talese, Senior Vice President of Doubleday and Publisher and Editorial Director of Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, who’ll speak at the conference on Saturday.
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What’s big in Big D? We’ll find out this hour with D Magazine editors Tim Rogers, Nancy Nichols, and Eric Celeste who put together the current “Best of Big D” issue.
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Getting from East to West used to be an arduous journey, requiring months, great expense, and a fair measure of risk. Today, the only risk is missing a flight or an unexpected delay. Is it still possible to travel as people once did, getting the true flavor of a place and its culture? We’ll spend this hour with acclaimed British travel writer, Colin Thubron, who spent 8 months traveling 7,000 miles on foot, donkey cart, camel, truck and bus for his latest book “Shadow of the Silk Road” (Harper Collins, 2007).
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