KPFA - Bookwaves/Artwaves

Nancy MacLean, author of "Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America" in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Duke University Professor Nancy MacLean, in researching the life of libertarian professor James Buchanan, discovered the philosophical underpinnings of what Hillary Clinton (almost unknowingly) called the "vast right-wing conspiracy." Funded by Charles Koch and other donors, they've taken over the GOP and have an agenda, she says, that ultimately will allow minority rule in the United States for the forseeable future.

In this interview, she discusses the role of Buchanan and the Mont Pelerin Society in the underpinnings of this gradual take-over of the state and federal government, and what the goals are, according to her research. "Democracy in Chains" is on the short list for the 2017 National Book Award.

An hour-long version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

 

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/nancy-maclean-democracy-chains/

Adam Gopnik, whose latest book is "At The Strangers' Gate" in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Adam Gopnik has been a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine for over three decades. Among his best-selling books are "Paris to the Moon," "At the Children's Gate," and "The Table Comes First." He is currently  the author of the magazine's "Daily Comment" [1] blog, and has written on several subjects, from politics to food to gun control. He is the winner of three National Magazine awards and has worked extensively in theater.

His latest book, "At The Strangers' Gate" deals with his arrival in New York in the early 1980s, and focuses on changes in life and culture over the course of that decade.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [2]

[1] https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment

[2] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/adam-gopnik-strangers-gate/

Elizabeth Rosner, author of Survivor Cafe: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory, in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. Elizabeth Rosner, the author of three novels and one poetry/prose collection, discusses her latest book, Survivor Cafe, which deals with trauma and its effects, both direct and indirect. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, she examines the effects of war and other tragedies on the psyche, and how those effects can be passed down, generation to generation.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/elizabeth-rosner-survivor-cafe/

Joseph Kanon, author of the spy thriller, “Defectors,” is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Over the course of the last 22 years, Joseph Kanon has established himself as one of the best spy novelists around, in the vein of John Le Carre, Alan Furst, Graham Greene and Eric Ambler. His latest novel, “Defectors,” is about what happens after a Soviet mole defects to Russia. What is their life like? What happens then? Set in the early 1960s, “Defectors,” through copious research, sets up what life must have been like for people like Kim Philby and other Russian spies forced to leave the West to survive.

Extended 48-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/joseph-kanon-defectors/

Rerun of Andrew Sean Greer program of September 7, 2017, starting late and getting cut off. Please listen here. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/episode/bookwaves-on-cover-to-cover-september-7-2017/

Andrew Sean Greer is the author of several acclaimed novels, including "The Confessions of Max Tivoli" and "The Story of a Marriage." His latest novel, "Less," tells the story of a middle-aged writer turning fifty, his relationships with an older famed poet and a younger man, and a trip around the world intended to not only escape his current situation but gain an understanding of his work and his inner life. A comic novel about being gay, about relationships, and about the nature of travel and life of a writer. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Extended 32-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

Andrew Sean Greer webpage [2]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/andrew-sean-greer-less/

[2] https://andrewgreer.com/

Tom Perrotta, whose latest novel is "Mrs. Fletcher," in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

The author of several best-sellers, Tom Perrotta is perhaps best known these days as the author of the novel "The Leftovers," and one of the writers of the highly praised HBO show of the same name. He is also the author of other novels, including "Election" and "Little Children," both of which became Oscar-nominated films.

In this broad-ranging interview, he talks in depth about his newest novel, which deals with the problems of a divorced mother faced with empty-nest syndrome, the creation and writing of "the Leftovers," his work on "Election," and issues that crop up in "Mrs. Fletcher, most notably internet pornography.

An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky [1] podcast.

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/tom-perrotta-mrs-fletcher-leftovers/

Hari Kunzru, whose latest novel is “White Tears,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

Hari Kunzru is the author of several novels: The Impressionist [1], Transmission [2], My Revolutions, Gods Without Men [3], and now White Tears [4]. Born in London in 1969 of an Indian father and Englsh mother, he grew up in the suburb of Essex and went to university in Oxford and Warwick. He later worked as a travel journalist before turning to fiction.

In the novel “White Tears,” he focuses on race, blues music and class in America, focusing on a young man with a wealthy friend who attempts to create a fake blues record from the 1920s and gets caught up in a series of events that play out in a magic realist fashion.

Extended 37 minute Radio Wolinsky podcast. [5]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impressionist

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_(novel)

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gods_Without_Men

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_Tears&action=edit&redlink=1

[5] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/hari-kunzru-white-tears/

The Anti-Fascist movement:

Adam Hochschild, author of Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Noted historian Adam Hochschild’s latest book is a history of the Spanish Civil War, the precursor to World War II, from the perspective of Americans fighting that war. Narrowing it down to the stories of a handful of men and women who were combatants, journalists and witnesses, Hochschild brings this violent and vicious war down to a human level and in so doing, brings history alive.

An encore presentation in honor of anti-fascism and Heather Heyer

A 48-minute version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast. [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/adam-hochschild/

[caption id="attachment_269317" align="alignleft" width="370"] Robert Preston and Barbara Cook in "The Music Man"[/caption]

Barbara Cook, the legendary Broadway star, died on August 8, 2017. This interview was recorded in her apartment on the upper West Side of Manhattan on June 21st, 2016  on publication of her memoir, Then & Now. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.

Barbara Cook came to New York from Atlanta in the early 1950s and was the young ingenue in the musicals Flahooley and Plain & Fancy.Her first major role was as Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. She made her greatest mark as the original Marian the Librarian opposite Robert Preston in the hit show, The Music Man, and followed it up as Amalia in the original production of She Loves Me,currently in a hit revival on Broadway. Along the way, she performed in several New York revivals, including The King and I, Show Boat and Carousel.

After a rough few years in which she battled weight issues and alcoholism, she emerged in the mid-1970s as one of America’s greatest interpreters of the American musical canon, with performances in cabaret venues, at the Met, and at Carnegie Hall. She also was featured on the Sondheim Follies in Concert albumin 1985, which has become a must-own for collectors of musical theatre recordings.

In 2010, she returned to Broadway in Sondheim by Sondheim, and received the Kennedy Center honors in 2011. She continued to perform into the fall of 2016, at the age of 88.

Complete interview: Radio Wolinsky podcast [1]

[1] https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/barbara-cook/