Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

(10/27/21) We don’t vote for federal judges; they’re appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. However, public influence has undeniably had a dramatic effect on the Court, it is the wealthy and powerful who have always benefitted from our legal system. Attorney Richard Jacobs’s new book Democracy of Dollars: Where Natural and Constitutional Rights Go To the Highest Bidder looks at the ways direct democracy has been hijacked by big money and partisan politics. Join us for a look at how to transform America into an actual representative democracy in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(10/26/21) No one was prepared for what happened when a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Wuhan, China in January of 2020. Politicians, government officials, business leaders and public-health professionals were seemingly unable to do anything to while the most devastating pandemic in a century ravaged local communities. As Wall Street Journal investigative journalist Gregory Zuckerman describes in his book A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine, the world’s biggest drug and vaccine makers were slow to react, leaving it up to a small group of untested scientists and executives to quite literally save civilization. Join us for a look at the race to the discovery that changed everything in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(10/25/21) Even by the most conservative estimates, we have a decade or less to radically slow global warming before we risk hitting irreversible tipping points that will lock in catastrophic climate change. The good news is that we now know how to slow global warming enough to avert disaster. In his new book, Cut Super Climate Pollutants Now! The Ozone Treaty’s Urgent Lessons for Speeding Up Climate Action (Resetting Our Future), co-written with Stephen O. Andersen and Alan Miller, founder of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development Durwood Zaelke explains how to cut the rate of global emissions in half. Join us for a look at how humanity can stay in the race to net zero climate emissions by 2050 in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(10/22/21) Erica Abeel’s new historical fiction novel The Commune is a look at the Hamptons commune populated by the newly liberated women present at the creation of the seminal 1970 Women's March for Equality. Find out what happens when these pioneering feminists find themselves whipsawed between the bold new ideals of the women's movement and the harsh realities of their time in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(10/21/21) Sibling language experts and regular contributors to the show Kathryn and Ross Petras are the authors of the New York Times bestseller You're Saying It Wrong: A Pronunciation Guide to the 150 Most Commonly Mispronounced Words—and Their Tangled Histories of Misuse as well as Awkword Moments: A Lively Guide to the 100 Terms Smart People Should Know. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, Kathy and Ross take your calls on the latest language trends.

(10/19/21) Chude Pam Allen and Robert Allen’s new book Reluctant Reformers: Racism and Social Reform Movements in the United States, an updated edition of the latter’s iconic 1974 title, explores the racism that drove the US political system from the early 19th century to the end of World War II. In addition to a forward by New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, this new printing includes a postscript describing the Black freedom movement of the 1960s and the central role it has played in the development of today’s radical social justice movements. Join us for a conversation with Chude Pam Allen and the book’s editor Steven Hiatt in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(10/15/21) From the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, Bryan Miller was a household name among East Coast foodies as the restaurant critic for the New York Times. Over the course of his decade as a columnist, he dined out more than 5,000 times in eateries around the world. Wine Spectator once called him “the most powerful restaurant critic in America.” And for much of that time, he wanted to die. Bryan’s new book Dining in the Dark: A Famed Restaurant Critic's Struggle with and Triumph over Depression chronicles his battle with the mental illness Bipolar II that changed his life forever. Join us for an honest look at the often invisible suffering people with debilitating depression face in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(10/14/21) From the first Women’s March the day after the 2017 inauguration to the Blue Wave in the 2018 midterms or the flood of female presidential candidates in 2020, women from across the ideological spectrum became energized in a way America had not witnessed in decades in response to the presidency of Donald Trump. They marched, they organized, they donated vast sums of cash and they ran for office. They formed new alliances. And they were a major reason why he was voted out. Featuring exclusive interviews with key figures such as Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams and Nancy Pelosi, Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy from Donald Trump, the new book from Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, looks at this recent explosion of female-centered activism and what it means for the future. Join us for a look at women’s role in the refutation of Trumpism in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(10/8/21) Companies hold the power to shape our daily lives, the state holds the power to make them fall in line and the people hold the power to choose their leaders. But now, this balance has shaken loose. Through interviews with some of the world’s most influential thinkers and innovative economic and political models, The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People—and the Fight for Our Future, the new book from former Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Alec Ross, proposes a new social contract―one that resets the relationship between corporations, the politicians and the rest of us. Join us for a look at a different way forward in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(10/7/21) Digital technology, big data, big tech, machine learning and AI are revolutionizing both the tools of economics and the phenomena it seeks to measure. In her book Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be former advisor to the UK Treasury and the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge Diane Coyle explores the enormous problems facing economics today. Join us for a look at how economics can provide a positive road map in the 21st century in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.