With Good Reason

Though he first emerged in the public consciousness as a world-class athlete, Arthur Ashe’s subsequent contributions as an author, activist, humanitarian and businessman eventually transcended his sporting success. And: How a program is helping high school students from low-income families become first generation college graduates. (And more...)

Though he first emerged in the public consciousness as a world-class athlete, Arthur Ashe’s subsequent contributions as an author, activist, humanitarian and businessman eventually transcended his sporting success. And: How a program is helping high school students from low-income families become first generation college graduates. (And more...)

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison was born Chloe Wofford in 1931. She was 39 when she published her first novel about a black girl’s painful coming of age in a white society. The Bluest Eye and many subsequent works have earned Morrison the highest accolades in literature and established her as one of America’s leading fiction writers. Nikki Giovanni and Joanne Gabbin paid tribute to Morrison with an extravaganza at Virginia Tech that included nationally renowned writers, singers, and poets, and the late Maya Angelou. With Good Reason interviewed Morrison and shares highlights from that night of tributes.

Later in the show: The author of Equal Time: Television and the Civil Rights Movement explores how the newly created evening news shows shaped attitudes about race relations during the Civil Rights Movement. Aniko Bodroghkozy investigates the network news treatment of events including the 1965 Selma voting rights campaign, integration riots at the University of Mississippi, and the March on Washington. Also featured: Stephen Alcorn is the illustrator of the children’s book Odetta: The Queen of Folk, which tells the story of the legendary singer and social activist known as “the Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.” The book follows her renowned career and her influence on many of the most important singers of the folk revival of the 1960s.

Rock and Roll started out as an interracial forum, but Slate’s pop critic Jack Hamilton says rock turned into a predominantly white music genre, and he’s piecing together why. Also: The history of the great American game of baseball represents all the paradoxes of race relations in our country. Johnny Moore studies the surprising shift from the 1920’s, when baseball held an important place within the black community, to today, where that place lies in the NBA.

Later in the show: The late Julian Bond conducted 51 extensive interviews with prominent black leaders in America. Phyllis Leffler, who led the project with Bond, has written a book on the series that offers insights into the intractable disparities of race in America. Also: In the 1940’s Fatima Massaquoi penned one of the earliest known autobiographies by an African woman. Arthur Abraham is one of three editors of The Autobiography of an African Princess, which traces Fatima’s life from her youth in Africa to her later years in America.

Best-selling author Adriana Trigiani talks about life growing up in the small Appalachian town of Big Stone Gap. Her new movie, Big Stone Gap, based on her novel of the same name, is out this winter. Plus: Hoping to revitalize the town of Appalachia, Virginia, Tessa McCoy and Meredith McCool looked to the past by collecting oral histories of old-timers."

Later in the show: What are the biggest challenges facing American society today? And how can we solve them? Bro Adams, the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, says that science and technology can’t solve those challenges—but the humanities can. Plus: Most of us know the history of the battle at Gettysburg, but Jennifer Murray tells the story of what happened to the battlefield after the fighting stopped.

Best-selling author Adriana Trigiani talks about life growing up in the small Appalachian town of Big Stone Gap. Her new movie, Big Stone Gap, based on her novel of the same name, is out this winter. Plus: Hoping to revitalize the town of Appalachia, Virginia, Tessa McCoy and Meredith McCool looked to the past by collecting oral histories of old-timers."

Later in the show: What are the biggest challenges facing American society today? And how can we solve them? Bro Adams, the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, says that science and technology can’t solve those challenges—but the humanities can. Plus: Most of us know the history of the battle at Gettysburg, but Jennifer Murray tells the story of what happened to the battlefield after the fighting stopped.

New research shows that when elections are forced on a country within five years of the end of a war, a new war will break out. The findings by Thomas Flores (George Mason University) might lead to a review of common regime-change practices. Also: April Faye Manalong (Norfolk State University) says that the concept of 'indebtedness' to their new home in the United States is a prime motivating factor among the Filipino community. It is also a factor in the communities' strong ties to military service. Plus: One-for-one models of giving purport to offer consumers a simple way to fight poverty. But as Shawn Humphrey (University of Mary Washington) learned from his own charitable efforts in Honduras, the work of doing good is a complex process and one that requires constant humility.

Later in the show: In the 1970s, a series of laws ushered in a new "sunshine era" of unprecedented government transparency. In his new book Secrecy in the Sunshine Era, Jason Ross Arnold (Virginia Commonwealth University) investigates how government officials have developed new workarounds, including over-classification, concealment, shredding, and burning. And: Has the Magna Carta's 800-year legacy been a snowball of misinterpretations? Thomas McSweeney (College of William and Mary) says he doesn't think its authors intended it to be the foundational text for common law that it became. Plus: A commission of experts has determined that new history textbooks approved by the Board of Education in Texas were pushing a specific ideology. One of the experts, Emile Lester (University of Mary Washington), says parts of the textbooks weren't just misleading; they were false.

Ever wonder what Shakespeare’s plays actually sounded like 400 years ago? David Crystal is a linguist and author who has researched Original Pronunciation, or OP, the accent with which actors in Shakespeare’s day would have spoken their lines. And Daniel Fromson tells the modern-day story of a man who set sail for Tangier Island on which it’s rumored OP still exists. Plus: Getting the accent right is not the only challenge in reading Elizabethan English. Paul D’Andrea has spent years trying to pull the big ideas out of Shakespeare’s plays. D’Andrea was named Outstanding Faculty of 2015 by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Later in the show: With seven unpublished novels wasting away on his hard drive, Tony Vanderwarker was astonished when world-renowned author John Grisham offered to take him under his wing and mentor Tony on the art of thriller writing. Plus: Novelist Carrie Brown draws inspiration from her years as a small-town America journalist, and from the mysteries of the cosmos. Her new book The Stargazer’s Sister tells the story of two remarkable sibling astronomers whose work led to the discovery of the planet Uranus.

Ever wonder what Shakespeare’s plays actually sounded like 400 years ago? David Crystal is a linguist and author who has researched Original Pronunciation, or OP, the accent with which actors in Shakespeare’s day would have spoken their lines. And Daniel Fromson tells the modern-day story of a man who set sail for Tangier Island on which it’s rumored OP still exists. Plus: Getting the accent right is not the only challenge in reading Elizabethan English. Paul D’Andrea has spent years trying to pull the big ideas out of Shakespeare’s plays. D’Andrea was named Outstanding Faculty of 2015 by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Later in the show: With seven unpublished novels wasting away on his hard drive, Tony Vanderwarker was astonished when world-renowned author John Grisham offered to take him under his wing and mentor Tony on the art of thriller writing. Plus: Novelist Carrie Brown draws inspiration from her years as a small-town America journalist, and from the mysteries of the cosmos. Her new book The Stargazer’s Sister tells the story of two remarkable sibling astronomers whose work led to the discovery of the planet Uranus.

Where Did You Come From? (December 26, 2015)

“Where Did You Come From?” is the title of the first track on Suz Slezak’s newest album, a collection of lullabies called Watching the Nighttime Come. Slezak and David Wax, both members of Mexo-Americana band David Wax Museum, perform live in the studio—and share some challenges and triumphs of taking their baby on the road. And: In their book Balancing the Big Stuff: Finding Happiness in Work, Family and Life, Miriam Liss and Holly Schiffrin (University of Mary Washington) find that “having it all” isn’t a matter of having more, but achieving a balance in life. They dissect the myths of helicopter parenting and gender issues to give concrete steps toward reaching harmony among our roles in life. Miriam Liss is a recipient of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award.

Later in the show: Adoption in America

With the success of TV shows like Modern Family and Parenthood, it’s clear that the way Americans think of family is starting to change. Yet Linda Seligmann (George Mason University) says for trans-racial and trans-national adoptions there are still many cultural barriers. And: Carmen Balogh talks about what it was like growing up in a blended family. Plus: Forgiving others is hard, but forgiving ourselves is harder. Everett Worthington (Virginia Commonwealth University) learned this painful lesson after his brother committed suicide in 2005. One of the country’s foremost experts in the study of forgiveness, Worthington tackles the subject in his upcoming book Moving Forward: Six Steps to Forgiving Yourself and Breaking Free from the Past.