[REBROADCAST FROM June 30, 2025] "The Gilded Age" star Morgan Spector discusses the third season of the period drama, and takes calls from our listeners who have questions about the series. 

How they organize the chaos of the world, for good and for bad.

Prologue: Ira interviews David Wallechinsky, who wrote a wildly popular book in the 1970s called The Book of Lists, full of trivia and research, gathered into lists like "18 Brains" and "What They Weighed." The book sold millions of copies and had four sequels and a brief spin-off TV show. The list books were like the internet, before the internet. (12 minutes)Act One: John Fecile talks to his brother, Pat, about a list their other brother made before he died. They each have different ideas about what the list means and how they feel about it. (14 minutes)Act 2: A brief visit with Bobby, who keeps a list in his phone of all the dogs in his neighborhood and their names to save him from the awkwardness of not knowing the name of someone’s dog – because people get upset if you don’t remember their dog’s name. (3 minutes)Act Two: Reporter M Gessen talks to Russians living in America and elsewhere about the lists the Russian government has put them on in the last few years. M Gessen is also on one of these lists. Each list has its own complex rules and potential consequences for the people on the lists and for their family members who live in Russia. (28 minutes)

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[REBROADCAST FROM April 4, 2025] We air highlights from our March Get Lit with All Of It book club event. We read Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett, a novel about a New York City asylum lawyer grappling with the events that led him to become estranged from his mother.

In an episode first released in 2010, then-producer Lulu Miller drives to Michigan to track down the endangered Kirtland’s warbler. Efforts to protect the bird have lead to the killing of cowbirds (a species that commandeers warbler nests), and a prescribed burn aimed at creating a new habitat. Tragically, this burn led to the death of a 29-year-old wildlife technician who was dedicated to warbler restoration. Forest Service employee Rita Halbeisen, local Michiganders skeptical of the resources put toward protecting the warbler, and the family of James Swiderski (the man killed in the fire), weigh in on how far we should go to protect one species.

EPISODE CREDITS:Reported by Lulu MillerSign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

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Spike Lee discusses his new film, "Highest 2 Lowest," which stars Denzel Washington as a high-powered New York City music executive who finds himself caught in a ransom plot. "Highest 2 Lowest" is in theaters August 15.

A new psychological drama starring Nnamdi Asomugha and Aja Naomi King follows a Black family whose lives are upended when an intruder breaks into their home, sparking a tense investigation. Asomugha, who also produced, directed, and co-wrote the film, will talk about it alongside co-writer Mark Duplass. “The Knife” opens in theaters Friday, Aug. 15.

The new play from playwright Bubba Weiler is about a grieving woman. Maggie, played by Quincy Tyler Bernstine, has lost her husband Marv. Marv, played by Michael Chernus, was a great, if not always perfect, husband. But as mourners, family and strangers start to come to Maggie's home, she begins to wonder if she ever really knew her husband at all. Weiler, Bernstine, and Chernus discuss "Well, I'll Let You Go," which is running at the Space at Irondale through September 12.

Host Meg Wolitzer presents perfect mismatches. In “The Man and the Moose” by Ben Loory, performed by Michael Cerveris, a man’s best bud has antlers. In “Red Dirt Don't Wash” by Roger Mais, performed by Brandon J. Dirden, a young man’s courtship is at risk—she doesn’t like his shoes. And a piano lesson is out of tune in “The Piano Teacher’s Pupil” by William Trevor, performed by Kathryn Erbe.