The Roundtable

This Saturday, October 25, Hudson Hall presents a special preview performance of “What is Your Hand in This?,” a new collaboration between acclaimed baritone Davóne Tines and early music band Ruckus.The performance will be broadcast live as part of WAMC’s On the Road series.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Joseph Palamountain Jr. Chair in Government atSkidmore College Beau Breslin, Senior Fellow for Health Policy at The Empire Center for Public Policy Bill Hammond, and Chief of Staff and Vice President for Strategy and Policy at Bard College Malia Du Mont.

Named one of the Top 20 Guitarists of All Time by Rolling Stone, Richard Thompson is one of the world’s most critically acclaimed and prolific songwriters. In addition to his beloved catalog and in addition to many other honors - Thompson has received Lifetime Achievement Awards for Songwriting on both sides of the Atlantic.He’ll be in the WAMC region early next month, playing The Bardavon in Poughkeepsie, New York on November 7 and Stone Church in Brattleboro, Vermont on November 8.Will Hermes is a regular contributor to NPR, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. He’s the author of “Love Goes to Buildings on Fire” and “Lou Reed: The King of New York.” His substack of music writing is at newmusicoldmusic.substack.com.Hermes spoke with Richard Thompson for WAMC.

One cold night, Natasha William's father drove his car into the New York Bay with her two-year-old half-sister in the backseat. She was the one to walk him past the column of hungry reporters demanding an explanation. The headline in The Daily News read: Back from a Watery Grave. But Natasha's experiences growing up with her schizophrenic father in the gritty New York City of the 1970s are not so easily captured in a single headline.Natasha Williams’ new book, “The Parts of Him I Kept: The Gifts of My Father's Madness,” is an intimate account of coming of age in the face of a father's schizophrenic unraveling.

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, Publisher Emeritus of The Daily Freeman Ira Fusfeld, Acting Department Head of Cognitive Science, Tetherless World Senior Constellation Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Science Jim Hendler, and Wall Street Investment Banker Mark Wittman.

Karine Jean-Pierre, former White House Press Secretary to the Biden & Harris Administration, shares why Americans have stepped beyond party lines to embrace life as independents in her new book “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.”

Author, botanist, and Native American scholar Robin Wall Kimmerer's work explores the natural world as teacher, partner and gift. Her new book "Bud Finds Her Gift" marks departure: an illustrated picture book for young readers that addresses the themes her adult volumes - "Braiding Sweetgrass" and "The Serviceberry" - have come to be known for.We welcome Robin Wall Kimmerer to to discuss how this picture book emerged, why Kimmerer chose the form, and what she hopes children (and their grown-ups) will carry with them.

In the wake of the brazen heist at the Louvre in Paris this past weekend, many are saying, “real life has once again echoed fiction.” In Dan Brown’s "The Da Vinci Code," a crime unfolds in the Louvre. We spoke with Dan Brown about the recent heist at the Louvre and the relationship to his book, "The Da Vinci Code."Brown’s brand new novel is "The Secret of Secrets" and he will be our guest on the Book Show on November 4 at 3 p.m.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities and Professor of Politics, Philosophy, and Human Rights at Bard College Roger Berkowitz, Dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany Robert Griffin, Semi-retired, Editor at large/columnist/editorial writer, Times Union Jay Jochnowitz, and Former Vice President for Editorial Development at the New York Press Association Judy Patrick.

This week's Book Picks comes from Kelly Stazyk from Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, New York and Manchester Center, Vermont and Lily Bartels from The Open Door Bookstore in Schenectady, New York.