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Today, on Leonard Lopate At Large, Leonard and Brian will discuss Brian Abrams’s new book “OBAMA: An Oral History 2009-2017,” the first comprehensive look into President Barack Obama’s White House. Featuring on-the-record conversations with over 100 West Wing staffers, administration insiders, legislators, political opponents and rival campaign managers, the book offers what Kirkus Review called “an entertaining, enlightening look at an administration that was never dull.”

Today on Leonard Lopate At Large, author Ann Beattie joins Leonard for the second installment in Leonard’s Underread Book Club, the short stories of Jean Stafford. Though her first novel, “Boston Adventure” was a national best seller, earning her national acclaim, it was Stafford’s short stories—first published in The New Yorker and various literary magazines—that earned her a Pulitzer Prize.  Today,  Leonard and Ann will focus on this revered body of work that often doesn’t receive the level of attention it deserves in the modern era.

Today Leonard’s conversation is with Dr. James A. Parrott on his study of Ride-Hailing apps.

Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing services have become a ubiquitous presence in the five boroughs over the past several years, but their popularity has raised questions about whether drivers can actually make a living working for them.The New York City Council recently voted to halt the issuing of new licenses for these services, and to set a minimum wage for drivers, based on the new study “An Earnings Standard for New York City’s App-based Drivers: Economic Analysis and Policy Assessment,” which looked at pay rates and working conditions for drivers working in the ride-sharing economy. Today, one of the co-authors of the study, Dr. James A. Parrott, joins Leonard in  for a discussion of this complicated and controversial issue.

On Thursday’s show, Leonard has a conversation with Khalil Cumberbatch, associate vice president of policy at the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy at The Fortune Society. On today’s show, Khalil shares his story and tells about the work he does at The Fortune Society to help out other immigrants in a similar position to where he was just a few years ago.

On today’s Leonard Lopate At Large, Leonard has a conversation with Edwin Frank, founder of New York Review Books

Back In 1999, Edwin Frank founded New York Review Books to reintroduce out-of-print works—many in first translations from around the world—to the reading public. Since its inception, the series has won dozens of awards for its translations; the New York Times chose Magda Szabó’s The Door as one of the ten best books of 2015.

New York Review Books have met not just with critical plaudits but commercial success, which naturally leads the curious reader to wonder: Who is Edwin Frank, anyway?” – Susannah Hunnewell, The Paris Review

Today, Leonard hosts a tribute to Aretha Franklin…

When Aretha Franklin died the age of 76, she left behind a body of work that will stand the test of time as some of the greatest music ever recorded.Today, Leonard broadcasts his own personal tribute to Ms. Franklin and the Detroit musical environment that she grew up in.

On Leonard Lopate At Large today, it is all things culinary as Leonard welcomes Robin Hood Radio’s Arthur Schwartz (The Food Maven) to the table!

Arthur Schwartz was the restaurant critic and executive food editor of the New York Daily News for 18 years. Having found success with his seemingly unending wealth of food knowledge in radio, print media, cookbook publishing, TV and teaching, Arthur now hosts a weekly show on the The Robin Hood Radio Network

Today Leonard has a conversation with Peter Aaron, and Brooke Allen on Syria before the war.

In 2009, Peter Aaron, an architectural photographer, and Brooke Allen, author and professor, went on vacation with their children to Syria. Brooke wrote a book about their experience called “The Other Side of the Mirror: An American Travels Through Syria” (Paul Dry Books). Within 2 years of their trip, civil war broke out and many of the landmarks that Peter had photographed were damaged or destroyed. His photographs—now a precious documentation of Syria’s vanishing history and culture—are currently on exhibit at the Venice Biennale and can be seen in a new book called “Syria Before the Deluge.”

 

Today Leonard is joined in the studio by lead guitarist and founding member of the MC5, Wayne Kramer.

From his genre-defining wall of feedback on the band’s seminal work “Kick Out The Jams” to their infamous performance at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that landed them both in jail and on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine before they even had a record deal, few groups had as wild or influential a time in the spotlight. The “big brother” band of The Stooges in their earliest days, the pioneers, purveyors and arguably creators of punk and heavy metal music, the MC5 created a sound far ahead of its time.

 

Today Leonard talks with Michael Patrick MacDonald on Ireland:

Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in the Old Colony Housing Project in South Boston . After losing four of his eleven siblings and seeing his generation decimated by poverty, crime, addiction, and incarceration, he learned to transform personal and community trauma by becoming a leading Boston activist, organizer and writer. He is the author of the New York Times Bestselling memoir, “All Souls: A Family Story From Southie” and the acclaimed “Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion.” He has been awarded an American Book Award, A New England Literary Lights Award, and a fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study Center. As an activist, MacDonald has focused his efforts on multi-cultural coalition building to reduce violence and promote grassroots leadership from our most impacted communities. He has developed Gun Buyback programs and local support groups, which give voice to adult and youth survivors of poverty, violence and the drug trade.