FRESH AIR After he won the presidency, Abraham Lincoln brought three of his rivals for the Republican nomination into his cabinet. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin‘s book, Team of Rivals, recounts the life and work of our 16th president — and the principal characters of his administration. Goodwin won a Pulitzer Prize for her book, No Ordinary Time, about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. She has also written books about Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedys. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: When Lyndon B. Johnson took office as president, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he began making daily recordings of his private conversations. Historian […]
FIRE IN THE HOLE: You Sunk My Swiftboat!
BOOK ‘EM, OBAMO: Obama plunges into a murky sea of lies to fight Swiftboat assholes with disinfecting sunshine and reality-based facts. [Not pictured, knife clenched between teeth and can of whup-ass in back pocket] HUFFINGTON POST: As promised, Barack Obama’s campaign is hitting back hard against smear author Jerome Corsi’s New York Times best-selling book The Obama Nation. In an exhaustive 41-page PDF document entitled Unfit for Publication — a riff on Corsi’s 2004 Unfit for Command, which targeted John Kerry — the campaign documents every false claim they have been able to find in Corsi’s current tome. MORE FIGHT […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
DOG DAYS: Dr. Dog, Rittenhouse Square, Last Night [Photo by TIFFANY YOON] THE WORLD CAFE Dr. Dog David Dye welcomes Dr. Dog for a special session mixed by the celebrated producer, Steve Lillywhite, at Avatar Studios in New York. Fate, the fifth album from this Philadelphia based five-piece is already drawing stellar reviews. As the band’s national recognition continues to grow, they’ve remained true to their bouncy rock style, mixing intricate harmonies with ’60s pop beats driving each song forward. They also aren’t afraid to come back with another concept album, manifesting the theme of fate creatively throughout the record. […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Hostile womanizer, award-winning editor, crack addict, bad parent, coke dealer, New York Times columnist — David Carr has been all of those, sometimes simultaneously. But he doesn’t know all the details — or isn’t sure, after years of telling and retelling colorful anecdotes about himself, that he remembers them right. So for his memoir The Night of the Gun, Carr put on his investigative-reporter hat to reconstruct his various sordid lives. He interviewed friends, ex-friends, family members and colleagues, all in the effort to document the man he has been, rather than the myth he’s in the habit […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Award-winning soul singer Isaac Hayes, who rose to the top of the charts in the 1970’s on the soul-record label Stax, died August 10. He was 65. He released his first solo album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, in 1968. His next album, Hot Buttered Soul, went gold in the 1970s, and is credited with helping pave the way for the rise of disco; his 1972 soundtrack to the movie Shaft went platinum, and the single “Theme From Shaft” won both an Oscar and a Grammy Award. Hayes also worked as an actor, with roles in movies as diverse as […]
RIP: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Dead At 89
NEW YORK TIMES: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose stubborn, lonely and combative literary struggles gained the force of prophecy as he revealed the heavy afflictions of Soviet Communism in some of the most powerful works of the 20th century, died late on Sunday at the age of 89 in Moscow. His son Yermolai said the cause was a heart ailment. Mr. Solzhenitsyn outlived by nearly 17 years the Soviet state and system he had battled through years of imprisonment, ostracism and exile. Mr. Solzhenitsyn had been an obscure, middle-aged, unpublished high school science teacher in a provincial Russian town when he burst […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR While his Office character may take himself seriously, actor Rainn Wilson seems to be all about the laughs. Wilson plays beet-farming, archery-loving middle-management kook Dwight Schrute on the NBC hit television series. Now, Wilson is trading his crossbow for a guitar in the new film The Rocker. In The Rocker, Wilson plays a failed hair metal musician. After he’s kicked out of his band, the group goes on to achieve great success. But when he joins his nephew’s garage band, he gets a second chance at fame. Wilson made his breakthrough as an actor playing an eccentric mortician […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR We humans have long wondered what separates us from the other animals — but neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga may have given the topic more consideration than most. Gazzaniga, a pioneer in what’s called split-brain research, has just published Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique. He talks to Terry Gross about his work, which involves investigating the varying functions of the left and right sides of our brains, and about how that research informs our understanding of the brain and human consciousness. Gazzaniga has spent the past 45 years studying the functions of the left and right brain. […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR The Dark Knight lived up to its hype. The latest installment in the Batman film series set records with its opening weekend, taking in an estimated $155 million at the box office. Spider-Man 3 previously held the record, taking in $151 million last year. Director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan and actor Christian Bale are two of the driving forces behind the blockbuster’s success. The Dark Knight is the third collaboration for the pair, who previously worked together on Batman Begins and the dueling-illusionists thriller The Prestige. Nolan first made a name for himself with the Oscar-nominated low-budget hit […]
DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENT: Plastic Fantastic MILFs
According to the website of Michael Salzhauer, a board certified plastic surgeon, My Beautiful Mommy, a children’s book designed to teach youngsters why mommy came home from the doctor with bruises on her nose and tummy, is “a must-have for any mother with young children considering plastic surgery.” Newsweek did a story prior to the book’s release, featuring a 29-year-old mother, Gabriela Acosta, whose weight ballooned from 115 pounds to 196 after birthing her now nine-year-old son, Junior Acosta. Even after Gabriela lost the weight, she was left with “stretched, saggy skin.” Plastic surgery crossed her mind, but she was […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The war on terrorism has had devastating social and political costs, and it is the United States government — not foreign enemies — that has caused much of the damage, says investigative journalist Jane Mayer. Mayer’s new book is The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals. In it, The New Yorker writer contends that the policy implemented after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks promoted an agenda that sought to increase presidential power. Further, many of the Bush administration’s strategy decisions violated the Constitution and impeded the […]
NPR 4 THE DOPE: This Is Your Public Radio On Drugs
RADIO TIMES Hour 1 A conversation about politics and the Olympics with speed skating gold medallist JOEY CHEEK, co-founder of Team Darfur, a coalition of athletes trying to raise awareness about the Darfur crisis. Also, 45-year-old Olympic swimming hopeful W. HODDING CARTER talks about chasing his dream and his new book, Off the Deep End. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3 Hour 2 Alex Gibney’s new film Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson opened this weekend. He was the winner of the 2008 Academy Award for best documentary for Taxi to the Dark […]
VIVA LA NPR: A Public Radio Revolution Since 2006
FRESH AIR Before the Cuban Revolution, Havana was a playground for American gangsters, mafiosi and the debauched tourists who frequented their casinos. T.J. English’s new book Havana Nocturne provides a vision of the darker side of the city, focusing on gangland imperialism and the dirty dealings that happened in jazz clubs. In addition to Havana Nocturne, English has written a number of other true-crime works. His book Paddy Whacked concerns the Irish mob, and Born to Kill focuses on Vietnamese organized crime. English has also written episodes for the television dramas Homicide: Life on the Streets and NYPD Blue. He […]