Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

On this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI-99.5FM, author Tim Kane discusses his book The Immigrant Superpower, How Brains, Brawn, and Bravery Make America Stronger. In his book Kane combines stories of immigrants who have contributed to the American experience in the military and in business. He also analyzes immigration’s effects on wages and unemployment.

He concludes that immigration has been a source of American strength and exceptionalism since the nation’s founding and that the only way to win the great power competition of the twenty-first century is to embrace America’s identity as a nation of immigrants.

Kane is the J.P. Conte research fellow in Immigration Studies at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has served as a senior economist on the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.

He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California San Diego.

In his book, Gal Beckerman editor at The New York Times Book Review, takes us back to the seventeenth century, to the correspondence that jump-started the scientific revolution, and then forward through time to examine engines of social change: the petitions that secured the right to vote in 1830s Britain, the zines that gave voice to women’s rage in the early 1990s, and even the messaging apps used by epidemiologists fighting the pandemic in the shadow of an inept administration.

Gal Beckerman who has a Ph.D. in media studies from Columbia University and writes for many publications, including The New Republic and The Wall Street Journal, shows that our most defining social movements—from decolonization to feminism—were formed in quiet, closed networks that allowed a small group to incubate their ideas before broadcasting them widely.

Join us on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, when Gal Beckerman discusses his book, The Quiet Before as he looks to the past to help us imagine a different future.

Award-winning journalist and writer for the Washington Post -- spanning over several decades, John Pomfret converses about his book “From Warsaw with Love”. Pomfret’s publication is a portrait of an unlikely and largely secretive relationship between Americans and Poles, spanning dozens of operations ranging from daring rescue missions to a “black site” prison for suspected terrorists.

As a correspondent for the Washington Post in Poland, Pomfret broke a strange story about Polish Intelligence Officers taking six American officers both military and intelligence, out of Iraq. Over the subsequent years he was fascinated by the idea of writing a broader story on how that operation jump-started an incredibly close alliance between Washington and Warsaw. Listen in, as John Pomfret who was based in Warsaw, Vienna, and Sarajevo examines this unfamiliar story on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

Join us for a discussion when sibling language experts and regular contributors to the program Kathryn and Ross Petras stop by. This language duo are authors of the bestselling You're Saying It Wrong: A Pronunciation Guide to the 150 Most Commonly Mispronounced Words—and Their Tangled Histories of Misuse and the hosts of a popular NPR podcast. On this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large Kathy and Ross return to discuss language trends.

Join us for a compelling conversation with historian Neil Lanctot, Ph.D. When he discusses his book, The Approaching Storm. A colorful triptych of three American icons who changed history and the engrossing story of the roots of World War I.

In the early years of the twentieth century, the most famous Americans on the national stage were Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jane Addams: two presidents and a social worker.

Each took a different path to prominence, yet the three progressives believed the United States must assume a more dynamic role in confronting the growing domestic and international problems of an exciting new age.

Dr. Neil Lanctot shares a fascinating view of how these three titans splintered as they could not agree on how America should respond to what soon proved to be an unprecedented global catastrophe, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(2/8/2022) Tune in to this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large, when author Dr. John Abramson, one of America's top drug litigation experts discuss Sickening, How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It.

In his exposé, Dr. Abramson has compiled a wealth of research alongside multiple patient stories in which he reports the pharmaceutical industry’s financial interests have corrupted and diminished our health care system, costing not only many Americans their entire bank accounts but also, for many, their lives.

Dr. Abramson has been a member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School for 25 years and has served as an unpaid consultant to the FBI and Department of Justice, including in a case that resulted in the largest criminal fine in U.S. history.

Stephen Zunes, a leading scholar of the Middle East and North Africa gives in depth insight into The Western Sahara and Moroccan conflict. Western Sahara a sparsely populated territory about the size of Colorado located in Northwestern Africa along the Atlantic coast, with rich phosphate deposits has been occupied and annexed by the Kingdom of Morocco in violation of a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions and a landmark ruling of the International Court of Justice.

In his newly updated book Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution. Zunes reports The United States and France, which see the Moroccan monarchy as an important ally, have blocked the United Nations from enforcing its resolutions calling for an end of the Moroccan occupation and a referendum on independence. Listen in as, Stephen Zunes discusses this controversy unknown to many, on this segment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(2/3/2022) In the past thirty years alone, more than 2,800 innocent American prisoners – their combined sentences surpassing 25,000 years – have been exonerated and freed after being condemned for crimes they did not commit. Terrifyingly, this number represents only a fraction of the actual number of persons wrongfully accused and convicted over the same period.

On this segment of Leonard Lopate at Large, David Rudolf will discuss his latest book American Injustice: Inside Stories from the Underbelly of the Criminal Justice System, in which he draws from his years of experience in the American criminal legal system to shed light on the misconduct that exists at all levels of law enforcement and the tragic consequences that follow in its wake.

(2/1/22) As some listeners may recall, Leonard Lopate at Large premiered on July 16, 2018 on WBAI. What they may not be aware of is that other than Leonard, the show only had one staff member—executive producer Jesse Lent. As Jesse heads to Europe to pursue his career in music full time, the two of them look back at the highs and lows of putting together a daily talk show before and during a pandemic. Leonard will also introduce his new producer, Keziah Glow, to the listening audience for the first time. Join us for a look back at the show’s past, present and future along with a listen to some of Jesse’s music, both as a soundtrack composer and with his group The Sweetheartz of the Psychic Rodeo, in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(1/28/22) The festival NYC’s Movie Renaissance: 1945-1955 is running at Film Forum from Jan. 28 to Feb. 10. Mainly comprised of film shot on the East Coast during a brief surge of local production by such directors as Jules Dassin, Elia Kazan and Stanley Kubrick, Film Forum’s latest offering was inspired by the new book Keep ‘Em in the East: Kazan, Kubrick and the Postwar New York Renaissance by film historian Richard Koszarski. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, film historian Susan Delson joins Richard for a discussion of why this era is so important to the legacy of New York City moviemaking.