Free Library Podcast

Shenna Bellows lost her first U.S. Senate race but will likely continue to knock on doors and knock down

barriers. Erin Souza-Rezendes is the author of Keys to Elected Office: The Essential Guide for Women. Join us for this panel discussion moderated by 6abc co-anchor, Tamala Edwards. 

Introduced by City Councilwoman Cherelle Parker. 

(recorded 5/18/2016)

According to the Pew Research Center, the Hispanic population in the U.S. grew to 53 million in 2012, a 50% increase since 2000 and nearly six times the population in 1970. Could Hispanic voters decide the 2016 election? Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, separates fact from fiction.

Introduced by Pedro Ramos, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Foundation. 

 

(recorded 7/13/2016)

''A reliable and astute guide'' (The Miami Herald) through America's most compelling court cases, Jeffrey Toobin is CNN's senior legal analyst and a longtime New Yorker staff writer. His bestselling books include The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson, the inspiration for the popular television series starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and John Travolta; Too Close to Call, an investigation into the Bush-Gore presidential recount; A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President; and The Oath, a study of the ideological struggle between the Supreme Court and the Obama White House. In American Heiress, Toobin charts the journey of the posterchild for Stockholm Syndrome, the infamous newspaper heiress who would become known as ''Tania.''

 

(recorded 8/9/2016)

RFK started his career working under Senator Joseph McCarthy. He died a liberal hero. Author and journalist Larry Tye shows us how the remarkable journey occurred, sharing pieces of history revealed in his newly released book. 

Introduced by Bill Green, Former Mayor of Philadelphia. 

 

(recorded 7/27/2016)

What affect is the historic Supreme Court decision having on the way we experience political campaigns? Washington Post reporter Matea Gold follows the activities of heavyweight donors, from George Soros on the left to David Koch on the right. 

(recorded 6/15/2016)

In the United States, solitary confinement of youth is routinely employed in a majority of states, despite a recent ban on the practice in federal prisons. Over the past several months, the Free Library of Philadelphia's Regional Foundation Center helped to facilitate conversations between InLiquid, the Juvenile Law Center, and our own exhibitions committee to bring this exhibit of Richard Ross's photographs, which document the incarceration of children, to our Second Floor Gallery.

Featuring Richard Ross (Juvenile In Justice), Johnny Perez (Urban Justice Center Mental Health Project (MHP), Marsha Levick (Juvenile Law Center Deputy Director and Chief Counsel), author and broadcaster Solomon Jones and Naomi Goldstein (Professor of Psychology at Drexel University). (recorded 7/21/2016)

Nearly a quarter of a million youth are tried, sentenced, or imprisoned as adults every year across the United States. On any given day, ten thousand youth are detained or incarcerated in adult jails and prisons. Putting a human face to these sobering statistics, Boy With A Knife tells the story of Karter Kane Reed, who was sentenced to life in an adult prison for a murder he committed at the age of sixteen, in 1993, in a high school classroom. Twenty years later, in 2013, he became one of the few men in Massachusetts to sue the Parole Board and win his freedom. Boy With A Knife is also a searing critique of the practice of sentencing youth to adult prisons, providing a wake-up call on how we must change the laws in this country that allow children to be sentenced as adults.

Join author Jean Trounstine in conversation with journalist Christopher Moraff for an evening discussing Reed's case and the issues it raises.

(recorded 8/3/2016)

Parkway Central librarian and presidential history buff Dick Levinson sheds light on desperately ill and dying presidents who deceived the public to remain in power. Join us to hear tales so wild they could only be true. 

Introduced by Janet Haas, M.D., Chair of the William Penn Foundation Board of Directors. 

 

(recorded 7/20/2016)

An ''absorbing and meticulously researched history of the beginnings and causes of our obsession with vitamins and nutrition'' (New York Times), Catherine Price's Vitamania tells the fascinating story of the 13 dietary chemicals necessary to prevent acute deficiency diseases, and how their discovery just a century ago revolutionized the way we think about food. Price is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Best American Science Writing, the New York Times, Popular Science, O: The Oprah Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Men's Journal, and Outside. She is also the author of 101 Places Not to See Before You Die, a parody travel guide, and The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook.

In conversation with Michal Meyer, Editor in Chief, Distillations, and Manager of Public History Initiatives, Chemical Heritage Foundation (recorded 7/12/2016)

Ben Winters is the author of the ''bare-boned, raw and honest'' (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Last Policeman trilogy, a pre-apocalyptic noir series for which he won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the Philip K. Dick Award for Distinguished Science Fiction. His other work includes the genre-mashing New York Times bestseller Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters; the middle-grade novels The Mystery of Missing Everything and The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman; and several plays and musicals for children and adults. In Underground Airlines, Winters imagines a nightmarish alternate history in which the Civil War was never fought, allowing slavery to still exist in 21st century America.

(recorded 7/14/2016)