The Brian Lehrer Show

Isaac Butler, culture historian, critic, podcaster and the author of The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars (Bloomsbury, 2026) revisits the late 1980s start of the culture wars as the religious right took on the contemporary art world.

Photo: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - August 21: Banned books are chained to a table in "JD Vances Livingroom" at the Hotties For Harris party during the DNC in Chicago, Illinois on August 21, 2024. (Photo by Nick Oxford for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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Listeners call in to share a news story from the country they’re cheering on at the 2026 World Cup.

Photo: An Indian (R) and Nepalese football player (L) vie for the ball during a qualifier match for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 at Dasrath Stadium in Kathmandu on March 17, 2015. The teams drew 0-0. AFP PHOTO / PRAKASH MATHEMA (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP via Getty Images)

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Fred Kaplan, Slate's War Stories columnist, contributor to The iPaper and the author of many nonfiction books and his latest, a novel, A Capital Calamity (Miniver Press, 2024) offers analysis of what's in the Iran deal, and whether it will even hold up amid on-and-off violence.

Photo: TEHRAN, IRAN - JUNE 18: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY â" MANDATORY CREDIT - 'IRANIAN PRESIDENCY / HANDOUT' - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signs a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war between Iran and the United States, brokered by Pakistan, at his office in Tehran, Iran, on June 18, 2026. (Photo by Iranian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Catalina Gonella, WNYC and Gothamist reporter, talks about her investigation into an alleged real estate scammer, who allegedly took money from dozens of apartment hunters, and never refunded the deposits even when they didn't get the apartment. Plus, she offers tips on how to avoid real estate scams, and what to do if you think you've been swindled out of cash.

Photo: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 11: An apartment building stands in the East Village neighborhood on May 11, 2026, in New York City. A New York City board that sets the rent for city-subsidized apartments voted last Thursday night to set a preliminary rent adjustment of 0% to 2% for one-year leases and 0% to 4% for two-year leases, angering many of the city's landlords. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, made reducing New York City's high housing costs a key campaign pledge. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Alvaro Bedoya, senior advisor at the American Economic Liberties Project and former FTC commissioner, offers his opinion on how the Paramount - Warner Brothers Discovery mega merger will affect every day people and their jobs, and more on what he calls the pervasiveness of monopolies and their effects in the US today.

Photo: The Paramount Pictures logo is displayed on the water tower in Los Angeles, California, on February 17, 2026. Paramount Skydance attempts a hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. (Photo by Michael Yanow/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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Darby Saxbe, clinical psychologist, professor of psychology at the University of Southern California and author of Dad Brain: The New Science of Fatherhood and How It Shapes Men's Lives (Flatiron Books, 2026) discusses her research on how becoming a father changes men, from their bodies and brain architecture to their hormones and sense of purpose. 

Photo: 06 May 2026, Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg: At the inaugural event of the Center for Brain Health at Magdeburg University Hospital, a monitor shows an MRI image of a human brain with the memory region highlighted in color. The new Centre for Brain Health aims to optimize brain performance in neurological and psychiatric diseases. Basic research and concrete help for patients are to be brought together here, according to the University Medical Center Magdeburg at the opening ceremony. Photo: Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa (Photo by Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.

[00:00] What Are Ultra-Processed Foods? 

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Photo: Packets of chips are on display at a supermarket in Mumbai, India, on September 7, 2025. (Photo by Indranil Aditya/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D GA), senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and the author of The Crooked Places Made Straight: Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America (Penguin Press, 2026), draws on the book of Isaiah to offer lessons on the moral crises facing America, from gun violence to voter suppression and climate change, and how to address them spiritually and politically.

Photo: Democratic US Senate candidate Reverend Raphael Warnock arrives to speak at a rally at Garden City Stadium in Savannah, Georgia on January 3, 2021. The two candidates are competing in a runoff election on January 5th that will decide which party controls the United States Senate. (Photo by Logan Cyrus / AFP) (Photo by LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images)

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As we enter the last weekend of early voting ahead of Tuesday's New York primary day, Ben Max, host of the "Max Politics" podcast and executive editor and program director at New York Law School’s Center for New York City Law, recaps the stories breaking out of competitive congressional races, the statewide comptroller race, and more. 

Photo: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 29: New Yorkers participate in early voting at a polling site in Brooklyn on October 29, 2024 in New York City. As Election Day approaches on November 5th, millions of Americans are casting their ballots early at polling sites or drop boxes. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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For Father's Day, listeners who didn't have a dad around growing up call in to talk about who taught them how to be a good dad. 

Photo: Indian father Shailesh throws up his son, Harish, at a park in Amritsar on June 19, 2016, on Father's Day, a day observed in many countries to celebrate fathers and fatherhood. (Photo by NARINDER NANU / AFP) (Photo by NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images)

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