(7/21/20) Julian E. Zelizer’s latest book “Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party” is the story of how Congressman Newt Gingrich (Speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999) and his allies tainted American politics, launching the enduring era of brutal partisan warfare that we are still currently experiencing. From the Contract with America to the rise of the Tea Party and the Trump presidential campaign, Gingrich’s fingerprints can be seen throughout the most divisive episodes in contemporary American politics. Join us for an examination of how we got here in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/14/20) Regular contributor to the show Pete Muroski of Native Landscapes in Pawling, New York is an expert on just about anything you’d want in your garden. He also knows how to get the most out of your gardening experience while respecting the local ecosystem. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, Pete talks about the unique challenges that the pandemic presents.

When, in 1967, self-made millionaire named Paddy Roy Bates inaugurated himself ruler of the Principality of Sealand, a tiny dominion of the high seas, he began the extremely strange, completely true story of Sealand, an indefatigable micronation located on a World War II anti-aircraft gun platform off of the British coast. Dylan Taylor-Lehman’s book “Sealand: The True Story of the World’s Most Stubborn Micronation and Its Eccentric Royal Family” describes how this rogue adventurer seized the disused Maunsell Sea Fort from pirate radio broadcasters, settled his family there and defended their tiny kingdom from UK government officials and armed mercenaries for half a century. Join us for a discussion of the Bates family’s outrageous attempt to build a sovereign kingdom on an isolated platform in shark-infested waters in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

Heather Cox Richardson’s latest book “How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America” traces the story of the American paradox, the competing claims of equality and subordination woven into the nation's fabric and identity. Debunking the myth that the Civil War released the nation from the grip of oligarchy, expunging the sins of the Founding Fathers, it reveals how and why the Old South not only survived in the West but thrived. Join us for a hard look at the enduring evil of the nation’s original sin in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/7/20)In the long history of American demagogues, from Huey Long to Donald Trump, never has one caused so much irreparable damage to the country in such a short time as Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthyism is a term still used for those making slanderous (and often untrue) charges of guilt by association to destroy their enemies. From 1950 to 1954, McCarthy ended countless careers and even destroyed lives, whipping the nation into a frenzy of paranoia, accusation, loyalty oaths and terror. Join us for a discussion with Larry Tye, whose new book “Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy” includes an exclusive look at McCarthy’s personal records, in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/20/20) Greg Mitchell’s new book “The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood―and America―Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” chronicles the first efforts of American media and culture to process the Atomic Age. A movie that began as a cautionary tale inspired by atomic scientists aiming to warn the world against a nuclear arms race would be drained of all impact due to revisions and retakes ordered by President Truman and the military—for reasons of propaganda, politics, and petty human vanity (this was Hollywood). Join us for one of the strangest origin stories in the history of moviemaking in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/2/20)The new Netflix documentary “Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen” is an unprecedented, eye-opening look at transgender depictions in film and television, revealing how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures our deepest anxieties about gender. In the film, leading trans activists and icons like Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton and Chaz Bono share their personal reactions and resistance to some of Hollywood’s most beloved classics. Join us for conversation about “Disclosure” with director Sam Feder along with writer-actress Jen Richards and visiting Yale University Visiting Professor of Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies Susan Stryker, who are both featured in the documentary, in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

(7/1/20) As regular listeners know, there are few building issues that our favorite masters of home repair Alvin and Lawrence Ubell don’t know how to fix. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, Larry and Al answer your questions on projects that you can tackle while you’re socially distancing.

(6/29/20)The United States is recognized as the most religiously diverse country in the world. Yet, its laws and customs, which many have come to see as normal features of American life, actually keep the Constitutional ideal of “religious freedom for all” from becoming a reality. In her new book “White Christian Privilege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America,” Fairleigh Dickinson University professor Dr. Khyati Y. Joshi traces Christianity’s influence on the American experiment from before the founding of the Republic to the social movements of today.

(6/26/20) The new PBS documentary “Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America” reveals the untold stories of LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers who have fled persecution from their home countries and are resettling in the US. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, director Tom Shepard is joined by two of the subjects of “Unsettled,” Melanie Nathan and Cheyenne Adriano, for a discussion of the important issues the film examines.