Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast

American Emperor traces Burr from the threshold of the presidency in the contested election of 1800, through his duel with Alexander Hamilton, and then across the American West. A daring and perhaps deluded figure whose political career was in tatters following his indictment for Hamilton's murder, Burr conceived and plotted an insurrection in New Orleans and an invasion of the Spanish colonies of Mexico and Florida.Thomas Jefferson finally had Burr arrested and charged him with treason. Burr led his own legal defense in an historic treason trial before Chief Justice John Marshall, winning an acquittal and freedom.

David O. Stewart is the author of The Summer of 1787. He has practiced law in Washington, D.C., for more than a quarter century. He served as law clerk to Justice Lewis Powell of the U.S. Supreme Court and has argued appeals before the Supreme Court.

The Ivy Bookshop will have copies of the book for sale at the program.

Recorded On: Thursday, November 17, 2011

Between its founding in 1966 and its formal end in 1980, the Black Panther Party blazed a distinctive trail in American political culture. In Body and Soul, Alondra Nelson chronicles the Black Panther Party's health activism. Its nework of free health clinics, its campaign to raise awareness about genetic disease, and its challenges to medical discrimination, all were an expression of its founding political philosophy.

Alondra Nelson is associate professor of sociology at Columbia University, where she also holds an appointment in the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. She is coeditor of Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life and Genetics and Unsettled Past: The Collison of DNA, Race, and History.

Barnes & Noble will have copies of the book for sale at the program.

Recorded On: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Mamie "Peanut" Johnson joins author Michelle Green for this special program.

 "She looks the batter in the eye, stretches her 5'2" frame and pops a surefire, windup pitch smack dab over the plate -- one that lets the batter know that this 'peanut of a girl' means business. Fueled by her passion for the game and buoyed by the inspiration of Jackie Robinson, Mamie Johnson was determined to be a professional baseball pitcher. From the time she tried out for the all-male, all-white Police Athletic League team until she became one of only three women to play in the Negro Leagues, Mamie Johnson showed that courage -- and a fierce curveball -- could make a dream come true.

Michelle Green, author of A Strong Right Arm, is a graduate of the University of Maryland College of Journalism and the Johns Hopkins University Masters Program in Writing. She is the author of an award-winning children's book series, Willie Pearl.

Recorded On: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

After sifting through hundreds of documents including articles from the leading black weeklies, the papers of pivotal figures such as Effa Manley, Branch Rickey, and Jackie Robinson, and interviews with Negro League players and their fans, Bob Luke tells the story of Negro League baseball in the context of the Jim Crow society in which it thrived. He shows the inner workings of the leagues and their teams, the conflicts between players and owners, the uplifting impact the games had on African Americans, and the tireless contributions to the game of  Effa Manley, the only woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sociologist Bob Luke had a 40 year career in human resource development before authoring The Baltimore Elite Giants and The Most Famous Woman in Baseball: Effa Manley and the Negro Leagues.

Recorded On: Thursday, November 10, 2011

Larry Doyle is one funny guy. Deliriously Happy is his new collection of short humor writing covering everything from childhood to evil genius, pets to parenthood, Mark Twain to Twitter. A former writer for The Simpsons, Doyle works in showbiz and writes funny pieces for The New Yorker. He is the author of I Love You, Beth Cooper, which won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor and was made into a major motion picture, and Go, Mutants!

Recorded On: Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Lesa Cline-Ransome's spirited, folksy narrative tells the story of the colorful life of Leroy "Satchel" Paige, and her husband James Ransome illustrates the text with boldly colored paintings.

After just one year in the semi-pros, Satchel Paige was playing in the Negro major leagues. He went on to become the first African American to pitch in a major league World Series, and the first black to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

For ages 4 - 8 and their parents

Recorded On: Monday, November 7, 2011

Neil Lanctot teaches modern American history at the University of Delaware. Recipient of the Seymour Medal from the Society for American Baseball Research, he is the author of Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution. His new book, Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella, is the first biography of the Dodger great in decades and the most authoritative ever published. Campanella played eight years in the Negro Leagues with the Washington (later Baltimore) Elite Giants. When he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, he became the first African-American catcher in the 20th century in the major leagues. Campy was a mainstay of the great Dodger teams of the late 1940s and 1950s and was a three-time MVP. Following an automobile accident in 1958 which left him paralyzed below the neck, Roy Campanella became another sort of pioneer, learning new physical therapy techniques and becoming an inspiration to other athletes and physically handicapped people.

Award-winning historian Rob Ruck teaches at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh andThe Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic. His documentary work includes the Emmy Award-winning Kings on the Hill: Baseball's Forgotten Men. In his new book, Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latino Game, Ruck shows how the colliding histories of black and Latin ballplayers ran the gamut from early collaboration in civil rights protests to simmering intraracial tensions. Integration of the major leagues was painful: it gutted the once vibrant Negro Leagues and often subjected Latin players to Jim Crow racism. From 27% of all major leaguers in 1975, African Americcans now make up less than one-tenth; the number of Latin Americans by contrast has grown to more than a quarter of all major leaguers. Ruck's research reveals a stunning truth: baseball has never been stronger as a business. never weaker as a game.

Recorded On: Sunday, November 6, 2011

Recorded On: Saturday, November 5, 2011

Lucia Greenhouse grew up in an affluent and loving family, but her parents never took her to a doctor or hospital, not even when she got chicken pox or was knocked unconscious in a bicycle accident. As Christian Scientists, they believed that there were no such things as germs or diseases and that you could not get sick because you were perfect. fathermothergod is Greenhouse's memoir about growing up in the Christian Science faith and the painful consequences the family faced when her mother grew terribly ill.

Recorded On: Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Across the history of black baseball, ball players and musicians played off each other in a lifetime mutual admiration and inspiration society. They were constantly meeting on their travels, crossing paths as they moved across the country. They enjoyed, indeed loved, what each other did, and they enjoyed each other's company. Larry Hogan and Bob Cvornyek explore the many-pronged connection between black music and black baseball found in the history of both genres.

Dr. Lawrence Hogan is Senior Professor of History at Union County College. Dr. Robert Cvornyek is Professor of History at Rhode Island College.

Recorded On: Saturday, October 29, 2011