Free Library Podcast

An historian whose ''discipline is worthy of a first-class detective'' (New York Review of Books), Jill Lepore is the author of the National Book Award finalist Book of Ages, the story of Benjamin Franklin's beloved but often-overlooked sister Jane; New York Burning, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and The Secret History of Wonder Woman, a revelatory feminist origin story of one of the most popular superheroes of all time. Her new book is an ambitious biography of the United States, as told through the intersection of politics, technology, journalism, and sketches of greater- and lesser-known leaders, mischief makers, and visionaries.

Watch the video here.

(recorded 9/20/2018)

Crockett and Tubbs. Murtaugh and Riggs. Tango and Cash. Obama and Biden. In Hope Never Dies, this time it's personal as the former President and Vice President are on the case in this high-stakes thriller mystery from Andrew Shaffer,  the New York Times best-selling author of Fifty Shames of Earl Grey and other fiction and nonfiction titles. When Biden, fresh into retirement, finds that his favorite railroad conductor has died in a suspicious accident, he calls the only man he ever fully trusted: the 44th President of the United States. From biker bars and fleabag motels to the heart of the opioid epidemic, these two rebels will risk everything to see just how far down the Delaware rabbit hole this thing goes.

(recorded 7/30/2018)

Crockett and Tubbs. Murtaugh and Riggs. Tango and Cash. Obama and Biden. In Hope Never Dies, this time it's personal as the former President and Vice President are on the case in this high-stakes thriller mystery from Andrew Shaffer,  the New York Times best-selling author of Fifty Shames of Earl Grey and other fiction and nonfiction titles. When Biden, fresh into retirement, finds that his favorite railroad conductor has died in a suspicious accident, he calls the only man he ever fully trusted: the 44th President of the United States. From biker bars and fleabag motels to the heart of the opioid epidemic, these two rebels will risk everything to see just how far down the Delaware rabbit hole this thing goes.

(recorded 7/30/2018)

The dramatic story of the Flint water crisis-the signature environmental disaster of our time-and an inspiring tale of scientific resistance by a relentless physician who stood up to power.

Internationally recognized for her 2015 study that exposed elevated lead blood levels in Flint children, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a physician, scientist, and activist at the forefront of one America's most notorious public-health crises. She is the recipient of the Freedom of Expression Courage Award by PEN America, and one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People. What the Eyes Don't See tells the inspiring story of how a diverse group of researchers, parents, and community leaders fought bureaucratic indifference and proved that Flint's children were exposed to dangerous levels of lead.

In partnership with the Heinz Endowment and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading as a feature of GLR Week

(recorded 7/25/2018)

The dramatic story of the Flint water crisis-the signature environmental disaster of our time-and an inspiring tale of scientific resistance by a relentless physician who stood up to power.

Internationally recognized for her 2015 study that exposed elevated lead blood levels in Flint children, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a physician, scientist, and activist at the forefront of one America's most notorious public-health crises. She is the recipient of the Freedom of Expression Courage Award by PEN America, and one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People. What the Eyes Don't See tells the inspiring story of how a diverse group of researchers, parents, and community leaders fought bureaucratic indifference and proved that Flint's children were exposed to dangerous levels of lead.

In partnership with the Heinz Endowment and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading as a feature of GLR Week

(recorded 7/25/2018)

Watch the video here.

Exploring the intersection of science, technology, and experience, Steven Johnson is the author of the bestselling Where Good Ideas Come From, Everything Bad Is Good for You, and How We Got to Now, which he adapted into a popular PBS and BBC series. Johnson is also the creator of the influential online magazine FEED and the website plastic.com, and was one of Prospect magazine's Top Ten Brains of the Digital Future. A look at the ways novelty, wonder, and amusement have driven innovation, Wonderland is ''a swashbuckling argument for the centrality of recreation to all of human history'' (New York Times). 

Due to low sound levels, you will have to turn the sound up on your computer (after the introduction) in order to hear the podcast. We apologize for the inconvenience. (recorded 1/24/2017)

Watch the video here.

Exploring the intersection of science, technology, and experience, Steven Johnson is the author of the bestselling Where Good Ideas Come From, Everything Bad Is Good for You, and How We Got to Now, which he adapted into a popular PBS and BBC series. Johnson is also the creator of the influential online magazine FEED and the website plastic.com, and was one of Prospect magazine's Top Ten Brains of the Digital Future. A look at the ways novelty, wonder, and amusement have driven innovation, Wonderland is ''a swashbuckling argument for the centrality of recreation to all of human history'' (New York Times). 

Due to low sound levels, you will have to turn the sound up on your computer (after the introduction) in order to hear the podcast. We apologize for the inconvenience. (recorded 1/24/2017)

Watch the video here.

Melissa Fleming is Head of Communications and Chief Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Her TED talk on the subject of refugees has been viewed more than 1.3 million times, and her advocacy has helped bring worldwide attention to the Syrian crisis. She is a frequent contributor to The Guardian, the New York Times, and The Washington Post. In her debut book, ''the human toll of the worst humanitarian crisis of our time is painfully, heartbreakingly brought home'' (Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner) through the harrowing journey of a young Syrian refugee and her family.  (recorded 1/26/2017)

Watch the video here.

Melissa Fleming is Head of Communications and Chief Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Her TED talk on the subject of refugees has been viewed more than 1.3 million times, and her advocacy has helped bring worldwide attention to the Syrian crisis. She is a frequent contributor to The Guardian, the New York Times, and The Washington Post. In her debut book, ''the human toll of the worst humanitarian crisis of our time is painfully, heartbreakingly brought home'' (Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner) through the harrowing journey of a young Syrian refugee and her family.  (recorded 1/26/2017)

Watch the video here.

In conversation with Dr. James Peterson, Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University. MSNBC Contributor

Possessed of ''intellectual heft, critical thinking depth and finesse with words and messages'' (Essence), Michael Eric Dyson is the author of 19 books, a frequent New York Times opinion writer, an MSNBC political analyst, and University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown. His many honors include an American Book Award and two NAACP Image Awards, and Ebony named him one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans. Tears We Cannot Stop is a no-holds-barred call for white America to face difficult truths about how it has ignored or dismissed African American grievances.   

(recorded 2/1/2017)