The Roundtable

The new book “Death Is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare” is the inside story of how the Wagner Group made private military companies inextricable from Russia’s anti-western foreign strategy by independent journalist John Lechner. Lechner made his first trip to the Central African Republic in 2019 where he began researching the effect of Russian intervention on the country’s armed politics.

"Americans Who Tell the Truth" is a new exhibit now on display at the Albany Institute of History and Art which showcases a selection of portraits by Robert Shetterly, featuring individuals throughout U.S. history, many with connections to the region including Indigenous human rights advocate Oren Lyons, Grafton, NY-based food justice activist and author of "Farming While Black" Leah Penniman, and folk legend and environmental activist Pete Seeger.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Chief of Staff and Vice President for Strategy and Policy at Bard College Malia DuMont, Publisher Emeritus of The Daily Freeman Ira Fusfeld, and Vice President for Editorial Development at the New York Press Association Judy Patrick.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany Robert Griffin, Corporate attorney with Phillips Lytle LLP Rich Honen, Executive Director of Communities for Local Power and former White House Advance Lead Anna Markowitz, and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.

Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons, an award-winning psychologist and associate professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, studies sexual wellness and liberation. As a leading expert in sex research, she joins us this morning to discuss her new book “Good Sex: Stories, Science, and Strategies for Sexual Liberation.” “Good Sex” encourages intimacy, fun, pleasure, and connection. It also outlines steps to understand, define, and practice sexual liberation in your personalized way.

This week's Book Picks come from Jim Havener from Green Toad Bookstore in Great Barrington, MA and Matt Tannenbaum from The Bookstore in Lenox, MA.

In a blend of personal narrative and in-depth reporting “New York Magazine’s” Senior Writer, Sarah Jones, exposes the reality of America’s racial and income inequality. Also, the devastating impact of the pandemic on our nation’s most vulnerable people.Her new book is “Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass." “Disposable” is an exploration of that underclass left vulnerable by systemic racism and capitalism. She delves into the lives of the essential workers, seniors, and people with disabilities who were affected by COVID-19.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Partner with the Albany law firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna Cianna Freeman-Tolbert, Professor Emeritus of Russian at Hofstra University and author of: "Illiberal Vanguard: Populist Elitism in the United States and Russia" Alexander Mihailovic, and The Empire Report’s JP Miller.

In "On Air," a book fourteen years in the making, journalist Steve Oney tells the dramatic history of NPR.

In his new book, "Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America," journalist Clay Risen resurrects a turbulent chapter of post–World War II American history.