Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

(7/12/21) Regular contributor to the program Michael Patrick MacDonald is the author of the book All Souls: A Family Story From Southie and the acclaimed Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion. He is also a regular contributor to The Boston Globe’s op-ed page. As an activist, Michael has focused his efforts on multi-cultural coalition building to reduce violence and promote grassroots leadership from our most impacted communities. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, Michael discusses the demonstrations for Orangemen’s Day (also known as the Glorious Twelfth) that will be taking place across the UK on Monday.

(7/9/21) Part travelogue, part history and part reflective meditation on conflict and reconciliation, Sherry Buchanan’s new book On The Ho Chi Minh Trail: The Blood Road, The Women Who Defended It, The Legacy offers both a personal and historical exploration of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, highlighting the role women played in keeping this critical route open during the Vietnam War. Join us for a look at this important aspect of Vietnamese history in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/7/21/) Every nation needs its creation myth, and since Texas was a nation before it was a state, it's no surprise that its myths bite deep. But no piece of history is more important to Texans than the Battle of the Alamo, when Davy Crockett and a band of rebels went down in a blaze of glory fighting for independence from Mexico, losing the battle but setting Texas up to win the war. Yet, as Vanity Fair correspondent Bryan Burrough reveals in his new book Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth, co-authored with Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford, that so-called historical retelling is nothing more than a fantasy. Join us for a clear-eyed look at this legendary chapter in American history in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/6/21) In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson launched the “War on Crime,” sending militarized police forces into impoverished Black neighborhoods. Facing increasing surveillance and brutality, residents threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at officers, plundered local businesses and vandalized exploitative institutions. In her new book, America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s, associate professor of History and African American Studies at Yale University and professor of law at Yale Law School Elizabeth Hinton draws on exclusive sources to uncover a previously hidden geography of police brutality and murder in smaller American cities—from York, Pennsylvania to Stockton, California. Join us for a look at how we got to this pivotal moment in challenging systemic racism in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/2/21) From an expert in animal consciousness, comes a book that will turn the fly on the wall into the elephant in the room. For most of us, the only thing we know about flies is that they're annoying and our usual reaction is to try to kill them. In his new book Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects, myth-busting biologist Jonathan Balcombe shows why flies continue to reshape our understanding of evolution. Forget everything you know us about this misunderstood insect and join us for another installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/1/21)On Jan. 6, thousands of people descended on the US Capitol to aid President Donald Trump in combating what they perceived as a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. They, like millions of Americans, believed that a mysterious insider known as "Q" was exposing a vast deep-state conspiracy. In their new book Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon, radicalization experts Drs. Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko explain why the rise of QAnon should not surprise us. Join us for a look at QAnon—what it is and what can be done about its corrosive effect on our democracy—in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/29/21) You may know Dennis Kucinich as a Democratic candidate for president in 2004 and 2008 or from his eight terms representing Ohio in Congress. But you probably don’t know about this chapter of his life. In his new book, The Division of Light and Power, the former politician tells the story of his fight as mayor of Cleveland to protect local power company Muny Light against a utility monopoly. Join us for a look at one mayor’s fight for affordable electricity in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/25/21) Why do societies change course? The question is critical to the historical study of any era but is just as important today. In his book Disruption: Why Things Change, David Potter, the Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History at the University of Michigan, argues that paradigm shifts always begin on the fringes. Join us for a look at how an idea takes hold on a mass scale and why in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/24/21) On June 3, the New York Senate passed the Adult Survivors Act. The law, if signed into law, would create a one-year window to revive civil lawsuits for sex crimes committed against anyone 18 or older. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, attorney and former competitive gymnast Sarah Klein, the first known victim of former Olympic women’s gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, discusses what this new law would mean for adult survivors of sexual assault.

(6/23/21) After the events of the past year, Governor Andrew Cuomo is now easily as famous as his father Mario, also a governor of New York for three terms. Like Robert Moses before him, he has become one of the state’s most infamous power brokers. Though initially celebrated for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, it is now apparent that Cuomo’s management of the crisis was a tragic failure. The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York, the new book from Guardian and Jacobin columnist Ross Barkan, is a searing indictment of the Governor’s handling of coronavirus and his time overall in the highest office of the state. Join us for a look at the most powerful man in New York politics in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.