Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

(6/21/21) We live in an age of displacement. Refugee numbers are increasing and climate change and COVID-19 are making the situation much worse. Meanwhile, rising populist nationalism around the world has undermined the political willingness of rich countries to accept migrants and asylum seekers. The Wealth of Refugees: How Displaced People Can Build Economies, the new book by professor of forced migration and international affairs at the University of Oxford Alexander Betts, looks at how accepting refugees benefits the receiving societies. Beyond the obvious moral imperative for more privileged nations to help people around the world in crisis, join us for a look at how the skills, talents and aspirational drive of refugee populations improve the country they emigrate to in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/18/21) With 13 candidates battling to become New York City’s next mayor in the June 22 Democratic primary, you are forgiven for not knowing exactly where every candidate stands on the issues. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, investigative journalist and regular contributor to the program Bob Hennelly goes beyond the headlines and the horserace to offer insight based on his own reporting and informed analysis.

(6/17/21) On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded after taking off from Cape Canaveral. Christa McAuliffe, America’s “Teacher in Space,” was instantly killed, along with the other six members of the mission. At least that's what most of us remember. In his new book The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger Disaster, author Kevin Cook looks at what really happened on that ill-fated day. Join us for a hard look at what led an overconfident space agency to launch a crew that had no chance to escape in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/16/21) If you’re over the age of 40, whether you thought it was thrilling or cruel, chances are the circus played some kind of role in your childhood. In his new book, Battle for the Big Top: P.T. Barnum, James Bailey, John Ringling, and the Death-Defying Saga of the American Circus, bestselling author Les Standiford shines a light on the era when three circus kings—James Bailey, P.T. Barnum and John Ringling—all vied for control of the massive audience for the American circus. Join us for one of the nation’s original showbiz showdowns in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/15/21) A police officer kills a 12-year-old boy. It’s caught on video. The officer faces no legal consequences. A police officer strangles a man selling cigarettes. It’s caught on video. The officer faces no legal consequences. It happens over and over again. The culprit here, alongside the cops, is the legal principle known as qualified immunity. In his new book Above the Law: How “Qualified Immunity” Protects Violent Police, Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen looks at 12 cases in which justice was denied because of qualified immunity or “Q.I.” Join us for a look at this troubling practice and what can be done to change it in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/9/21) Covid numbers may be in decline, but according to professor of Sociology at SUNY Binghamton and former member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines Walden Bello, there is another worldwide scourge that is just as serious—fascism. “The global spread of fascism is real, as real as the spread of Covid-19, and you better believe it,” Walden writes in his latest column for Foreign Policy in Focus entitled Fascism’s Global Spread is Real. Join us for a look at a different type of international infection in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/8/21) Chemist, artist and industrial hygienist Monona Rossol is the founder of Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety, Inc. The not-for-profit corporation is dedicated to providing health and safety services to the arts. She is also the Health and Safety Director for the Local 829 union of the United Scenic Artists International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, Monona discusses whether New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will be will be able to deliver on his promise to safely lift all Covid restrictions on the city by July 1 and what it will mean for all remote learning to be eliminated when public schools reopen in the fall.

(6/7/21) In this new book North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work, investigative journalist Michael Blanding presents the parallel narratives of renegade scholar Dennis McCarthy, known as “the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community,” and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the undiscovered source of Shakespeare’s work. Plagiarism software has revealed direct links between Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and North’s published and unpublished writings—as well as Shakespearean plotlines seemingly lifted straight from North’s own colorful life. Prepare to have your view of William Shakespeare as a singular genius playwright upended in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/4/21) From blurry vision to crooked teeth, ACLs that tear at alarming rates and spines that seem to spend a lifetime falling apart, it’s a curious thing that human beings have beaten the odds as a species. Professor of biology at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho Dr. Alex Bezzerides’s new book Evolution Gone Wrong: The Curious Reasons Why Our Bodies Work (Or Don't) is a look at the many twists and turns of our ancestral past. Join us for a look at why the body behaves like it does in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(6/1/21) Some of the only truly feral cattle in the world wander through an abandoned island off the northernmost tip of Scotland. A variety of wildlife not seen in many lifetimes has rebounded on the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl. A lush forest supports thousands of species that are extinct or endangered everywhere else on earth in the Korean peninsula's narrow DMZ. Investigative journalist Cal Flynn’s new book Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape is a tour through these new ecosystems where the natural world has reasserted its wild power and promise. Join us for the ultimate redemption story in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.