The one thing most anyone knows about First Lady Edith Wilson is that she conspired to cover for Woodrow Wilson after he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1919. There's much more to this complex woman's story, says this week's guest, Rebecca Boggs Roberts. She's the author of a new Edith Wilson biography titled "Untold Power." She describes Edith Bolling's rise from rural Virginia with only two years of formal education to the heights of power in Washington in a time of change for women and the nation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For two weeks in March 2023, former U.S. representatives David Bonior (D-MI) and Jim McDermott (D-WA), along with retired Catholic priest Peter Daly, went to Poland and Ukraine to meet with Ukrainians who have fled their homes since Russia's invasion in February 2022. Rep. Bonior and Father Daly joined us to talk about their trip and share stories about the people and refugee organizations they visited along the way.           Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Supreme Court reporter Joan Biskupic, author of "Nine Black Robes," talks about the Supreme Court during and after the Trump administration. She argues that President Trump's three appointments to the Court accelerated its rightward shift, leading to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. She also provides a look at the behind-the-scenes dealmaking that the justices engage in when deciding cases.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In April of 2021, former Wall Street Journal reporter and Washington, DC, resident Neil King joined us to recount tales of his nearly 300 mile trek from the nation's capital to New York City, a journey he chronicled on Twitter. Now, two years later, he has published a book about his walk titled "American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal." This week, as his book is published, we're re-airing our 2021 conversation with Mr. King to hear some of his stories of the historic sites he visited and the people he met along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author and journalist Jeff Hobbs discusses his book "Children of the State," which looks at the workings of the juvenile justice system in the United States. Mr. Hobbs focuses on three juvenile programs – in San Francisco; Wilmington, Delaware; and New York City – that handle minors at different stages of the juvenile justice process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Texas A&M American history professor Elizabeth Cobbs, author of "Fearless Women," talks about the history of feminism and feminists in the United States from the American Revolution to today. She profiles well-known and not-so-well-known women who have made an impact on American history and culture.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By advancing his judicial philosophies of "originalism" and "textualism," Antonin Scalia became one of the 20th century's most influential justices. This week, James Rosen talks about Book One of his two-part biography of Antonin Scalia, titled "Scalia: Rise to Greatness, 1936-1986," Rosen who is Newsmax's Chief White House Correspondent examines Justice Scalia's life prior to the Supreme Court. We talk about Nino Scalia's early years, the importance of his Catholic faith, his first years as a corporate lawyer, his teaching career at the University of Chicago and UVA, his time in government during the Nixon and Ford administrations, and his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From 1936 to 1967, during the Jim Crow Era, many African Americans travelers relied on the "Green Book," an annual guide listing African American-friendly hotels, restaurants, gas stations and other businesses, to keep them safe. TV and radio broadcaster Alvin Hall, author of "Driving the Green Book," talks about his visits to a dozen sites mentioned in the guide to learn more about its history and lasting impact.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Columbia University history professor Matthew Connelly, author of "The Declassification Engine," talks about the increase in U.S. government secrecy from World War Two to today. He argues that many classified documents are never made public because they expose government criminality and incompetence and that overclassification in an effort to keep the country safe is doing more harm that good.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Alex Prud'homme, author of "Dinner with the President," talks about how food and the culinary tastes of U.S. presidents have impacted American culture and history. He also discusses how breaking bread with allies and adversaries, both in private and public, furthered presidential agendas going back to George Washington.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, you'll meet Ilyon Woo, author of a new bestseller-- "Master Slave, Husband Wife." She recounts the harrowing journey of self-emancipation made by two enslaved Georgians--William and Ellen Craft -- in 1848. Disguised as a wealthy disabled white man traveling with his enslaved servant, the Crafts left Georgia via public conveyances, avoiding slave traders, law enforcement, and curious fellow passengers in their successful effort to gain freedom. Becoming popular speakers on the lecture circuit, they found themselves hunted by slavecatchers after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder, author of "Rough Sleepers," talks about Harvard educated doctor Jim O'Connell and his work with the homeless population of Boston over the past 40 years. Tracy Kidder followed Dr. O'Connell and his colleagues from the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program for five years to get an understanding of their work and an insight into the homelessness crisis in America.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book "Not Accountable," attorney and bestselling author Philip K. Howard critiques public employee unions and their impact in the United States. He argues that organizations like the American Federation of Teachers, the Fraternal Order of Police and others representing millions of government workers have usurped decision-making power from elected officials and are arguably unconstitutional.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ten days after 9/11, Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ana Montes was arrested by the FBI on espionage charges. For almost 17 years, since the mid-1980s, Ms. Montes had been passing along classified information to the government of Cuba, a crime for which she was sentenced to 25 years in prison. She was released in early January 2023 after serving 20 years. Investigative journalist Jim Popkin, author of "Code Name Blue Wren," talks about the life and career of Ana Montes and the damage caused by her treachery.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emmett Till's cousin Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., who accompanied Till on his trip to Mississippi in 1955, talked about the fateful events leading up to Till's murder by two white men and his efforts to get justice for his late cousin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're joined by University of California law professor Joel Richard Paul for a conversation about his latest book: Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the birth of American Nationalism. Webster was the best know orator in antebellum America, and his speeches were widely shared, inspiring many Americans, including Abraham Lincoln, to see the country as one nation bound together by the U.S. Constitution rather than a collection of individual states with unique interests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former college president and longtime educator John Agresto discusses his newest book "The Death of Learning: How American education has failed our Students and What to Do about it." Dr. Agresto is a passionate champion of liberal arts education at both the high school and college level. He makes the case that political correctness and an emphasis on skills-based degrees has devalued the liberal arts. He asks how we can build contemporary liberal arts programs that educate students and benefit our society.  This program originally aired in October 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, writer Javier Zamora describes the treacherous, three-thousand-mile journey he made from El Salvador to the United States when he was just nine years old. Led by coyotes, he and a group of strangers made three perilous attempts to cross into the US. Javier's parents, who had earlier migrated to California to escape the violence at home, had no idea for weeks if their only child was still alive. In his debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied, and now in his bestselling memoir Solito, Javier Zamora explains that his goal is to personalize the immigration story. This program originally aired on October 2nd, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest is Shahan Mufti's, who's new book, American Caliph, recounts an event that's been lost to history-- the March 9th, 1977 Hanafi Muslim siege in Washington, D.C. That day, three buildings in Washington, D.C. were seized by 12 Hanafi Movement gunmen and were held for two days. The group took 149 hostages, killed a young radio reporter named Maurice Williams, and shot then-councilman and future Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry. Mr. Mufti describes the background of the group's leader, Hamas Abdul Khaalis, the blood feud between him and the Nation of Islam, a movie about the prophet Muhammed that fueled the hostage-taking, and the tense negotiations that ultimately ended the siege. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, a conversation with Rick Wartzman, about his new book, "Still Broke: Walmart's Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism." Given unparalleled access to Walmart executives for this book, Wartzman traces the history of the Bentonville, Arkansas retail giant and its recent efforts to transform itself. Wartzman uses this study of Walmart's relationship with its workers to raise larger questions about the nation's millions of minimum-wage workers  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Smith, the author of the 1776 book, Wealth of Nations, is called the father of economics. He's often cited as a champion of free markets, an interpretation widely advanced by Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman in the 20th century. Harvard University lecturer Glory Liu says Smith's work is more nuanced. This week, we talk about her research on Smith as detailed in her new book, "Adam Smith's America"." She argues that while the 18th-century Scottish philosopher is widely known in the U.S. for his association with free markets, he was also a social philosopher concerned with worker rights and economic inequality.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Wall Street trader turned photojournalist Chris Arnade discusses his book "Dignity," in which he documents the plight of those living on the margins of society in America. He talks about his photos and shares stories about some of the people he befriended during his travels. This program originally aired in October 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Douglas Brinkley, author of "Silent Spring Revolution," discusses American biologist Rachel Carson's work on environmental pollution and the impact her 1962 book "Silent Spring" had on the conservationist movement in the United States during the following decade. He also talks about the leadership of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon on environmental issues and the landmark legislation dealing with conservation that was passed during the 1960s and early 1970s.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Boston Globe reporter and biographer John Farrell, author of "Ted Kennedy: A Life," discusses the life and political career of the late Democratic senator from Massachusetts. He talks about the Kennedy political dynasty and the tragedies surrounding Ted Kennedy's life, including the killing of his brothers and the 1969 car accident at Chappaquiddick that resulted in the drowning of 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Data journalist Elliott Morris, a U.S. correspondent for The Economist, discusses the history of public opinion polling in the United States going back to the 19th century and the development and use of polling since then. He also talks about the accuracy of polls today and the often criticized predictions made by forecasters during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amy Gajda, professor of law at Tulane University in New Orleans and author of “Seek and Hide,” discusses the historic struggle in the United States between an individual’s right to privacy and the public’s right to know newsworthy information. This conversation was originally published on May 15h, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and filmmaker William Doyle joins us to talk about his new book "Titan of the Senate." It tells the story of the longest-serving Republican Senator, Orrin Hatch of Utah. Sen. Hatch served from 1977-2019 and passed away at the age of 88 in April of 2022. Mr. Doyle argues that Senator Hatch's legislative achievements earn him the nod as the greatest U.S. Senator in modern times. Senator Hatch authored nearly 800 bills, including bipartisan efforts on HIV/AIDS, generic drugs, civil rights, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He often teamed up with his political opposite, the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2007 Civil Rights Legal Scholar Margaret Burnham launched Northeastern University's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project to document the largely unknown Black victims of racial violence in the South between the 1930s and the 1950s and the Jim Crow legal system that supported it. In her new book, "By Hands Now Known" Professor Burnham describes the systemic support for Jim Crow relates to a few of the more than one thousand murders during this period in which the perpetrators were never brought to justice.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former college president and longtime educator John Agresto discusses his newest book "The Death of Learning: How American education has failed our Students and What to Do about it." Dr. Agresto is a passionate champion of liberal arts education at both the high school and college level. He makes the case that political correctness and an emphasis on skills-based degrees has devalued the liberal arts. He asks how we can build contemporary liberal arts programs that educate students and benefit our society.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, writer Javier Zamora describes the treacherous, three-thousand-mile journey he made from El Salvador to the United States when he was just nine years old. Led by coyotes, he and a group of strangers made three perilous attempts to cross into the US. Javier's parents, who had earlier migrated to California to escape the violence at home, had no idea for weeks if their only child was still alive. In his debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied, and now in his bestselling memoir Solito, Javier Zamora explains that his goal is to personalize the immigration story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Appalachian Region of Eastern Kentucky has been ravaged by coal mine closings, opioid overdoses, floods, and public corruption. In this episode, Alan Maimon, a former reporter for the Lousiville Courier-Journal, talks about his book "Twilight in Hazard" which explores the impacts on the city of Hazard, Kentucky. He also talks about "Hillbilly Elegy," J.D. Vance's bestselling book about Appalachia, and Donald Trump's popularity in the region.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hal Brands, professor of global affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and co-author of "Danger Zone," argues that the superpower competition between the U.S. and China will reach its most dangerous point during this decade. He talks about the strategy that the Chinese government is pursuing to achieve global dominance and what the U.S. and other global powers are doing, or should be doing, to curb China's influence.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investigative reporters Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, co-authors of "Salmon Wars," take a critical look at the commercial salmon farming industry, which now provides 90 percent of the salmon consumed by North Americans. They argue that these large-scale salmon hatcheries threaten the environment and produce fish that are unhealthy for humans to eat.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey all you teachers and all you parents, and all you professors and all you students: Season #2 of the C-SPAN in the Classroom podcast drops this fall! Whether you're mowing the yard, on a peaceful weekend drive, or just relaxing on the couch with your favorite blanket, make sure to tune in to the first episode of Season #2 of C-SPAN in the Classroom on September 10th, available at c-span.org, on the free C-SPAN Now app, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Make sure to like, subscribe, and share, and visit us at www.c-span.org/classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Q&A on a short break, we're sampling a few of C-SPAN's other podcasts...this week an episode of "The Weekly" podcast. C-SPAN says farewell to colorful British Prime Minster Boris Johnson by joining him at the movies. The American movies. We remember how he mixed policy and politics with references to American cinema classics such as The Terminator, The Godfather, Star Wars, Scarface, and many more Hollywood offerings -- not least of which, the Muppet Movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Q&A on a short break, we're sampling a few of C-SPAN's other podcasts...this week Booknotes+...According to Beverley Driver Eddy, little has been written about Camp Ritchie, Maryland. Dickinson College retired professor Eddy says in her book "Ritchie Boy Secrets" that on June 19, 1942, the U.S. Army opened a secret military intelligence training center. Over the next four years, it produced some 20,000 graduates, intelligence and language specialists, for service in World War Two. Some of the famous names of men who were Ritchie Boys include J.D. Salinger, former senators John Chafee and Frank Church, David Rockefeller, and Reverend William Sloan Coffin.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Q&A on a short break, we're sampling a few of C-SPAN's other podcasts...this week...you'll hear an episode of Presidential Recordings. In this episode, we hear calls between the POTUS members of Congress. Topics include the publication of The Pentagon Papers, and The War in Vietnam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Q&A on a short break, we're sampling a few of C-SPAN's other podcasts...this week, political consultant Kellyanne Conway was the first woman to manage a winning presidential campaign. She shared insights into the 2016 campaign and her time in the Trump administration and offered her thoughts on the media and the political climate in America. She was interviewed by former Democratic Party interim chair and author Donna Brazile. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Q&A on a short break, we're sampling a few of C-SPAN's other podcasts...this week, Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) talks about his life, faith and journey in politics. He was interviewed by Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC), Democratic Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kathy Kleiman, an expert on internet governance at American University College of Law and the author of "Proving Ground," talks about the six American women who programmed the ENIAC, the world's first general-purpose electronic computer. The ENIAC (Electric Numerical Integrator and Computer), which weighed over 30 tons and took up 1,800 square feet, was a top-secret project designed by the U.S. Army during World War II to calculate artillery trajectories. The six women who programmed the ENIAC to carry out these calculations did so without a manual, relying solely on their study of the blueprints and wiring diagrams of the computer.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalists Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin talk about the COVID-19 outbreak on Holland America's cruise ship Zaandam in March 2020 while sailing around South America. Prevented from docking anywhere, the 1,200 mostly elderly passengers from the U.S., Europe and South America, along with 600 crew members, were stranded at sea as the virus spread on the ship. Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin discuss what happened aboard the Zaandam during those days, the actions taken by Holland America after learning about the outbreak, and the eventual safe harbor given to the Zaandam in South Florida.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Data journalist Elliott Morris, a U.S. correspondent for The Economist, discusses the history of public opinion polling in the United States going back to the 19th century and the development and use of polling since then. He also talks about the accuracy of polls today and the often criticized predictions made by forecasters during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris, author of "The Facemaker," talks about the life and career of Dr. Harold Gillies, a New Zealand plastic surgeon who reconstructed the faces of thousands of injured soldiers during and after World War One. The techniques developed by Dr. Gillies, many of which are still used today, revolutionized the field of reconstructive surgery.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season Two begins with a sampling of calls about Watergate between President Richard Nixon and his administration from April 1973 while the investigation intensified. Conversations include John Ehrlichman, Assistant Attorney General Henry Peterson, FBI Director L. Patrick Gray, Henry Kissinger, and White House Counsel John Dean.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At least 6 U.S. Presidents recorded conversations while in office. Hear those conversations on this C-SPAN podcast. Season 2 focuses on President Richard Nixon's secretly-recorded private telephone conversations. Through eight episodes, hear Richard Nixon talk with key aides about Watergate strategy, potential Supreme Court Nominees, and hear his reaction to the leaked publication of the Pentagon Papers.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Michigan musicology and American culture professor Mark Clague discusses his book, "O Say Can You Hear?," about the history and cultural impact of the Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key in 1814. He talks about how it became the U.S. national anthem, its widespread use today at sporting events, and renditions of the song performed by Jimi Hendrix, Whitney Houston, Roseanne Barr, and others.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Baltimore Sun reporter John Bainbridge, Jr., author of “Gun Barons,” talks about the inventors who started Colt, Smith & Wesson, Winchester, and Remington, and the role their firearms played in U.S. westward expansion and the Civil War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we look at two space-related stories in the news recently: the release of an image of Sagittarius A star, a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and the progress made by NASA's Perseverance Rover in its search for life on Mars. We are joined by two guests, Barnard College astrophysicist and author Janna Levin and University of Southampton geochemistry professor Jessica Whiteside. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iraq War veteran and National Book Award winning-author Phil Klay discusses his book of essays, titled "Uncertain Ground," about the impact of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on American society and the chasm between the less than one percent of citizens who serve in the military and the rest of the nation. He also talks about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, and other topics.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're taking a break for Memorial Day, and thought we'd use this opportunity to share an episode of our Booknotes+ podcast, where you'll meet Dr. Mark Vonnegut, who reflects on 40 years as a pediatrician in his book, "The Heart of Caring."  In the dedication of his book, "The Heart of Caring," Dr. Mark Vonnegut tells his patients, teachers, and parents everywhere, "Thank you for letting me have such a good time when I go to work." Dr. Vonnegut is a pediatrician who graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1979. This was after he had been diagnosed, at age 25, with severe schizophrenia. He's had four psychotic breakdowns in his life, but has managed to successfully practice pediatrics for close to forty years. Mark Vonnegut, in his newest book, writes about patients, parents, insurance companies, and his late father, the novelist Kurt Vonnegut.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1997, sovereignty over Hong Kong was passed from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. Large demonstrations opposing China's authority began in the early 2000s in the port city, culminating with the 2019 protests and subsequent crackdowns by the Chinese government that made headlines around the world. Louisa Lim, author of "Indelible City," who grew up in Hong Kong and covered Hong Kong and China as a reporter for the BBC and NPR, talks about the history of British rule in Hong Kong and the relationship between Hong Kong and China since the 1997 handover.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amy Gajda, professor of law at Tulane University in New Orleans and author of “Seek and Hide,” discusses the historic struggle in the United States between an individual’s right to privacy and the public’s right to know newsworthy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darlene Superville, White House reporter for the Associated Press and co-author of "Jill," talks about the life and career of First Lady Jill Biden. Ms. Superville discusses Jill Biden's involvement in Joe Biden's political career, her role as a teacher, and the causes – including working with military families – that she took up in the Obama and Biden administrations.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Archivist of the United States David Ferriero is retiring this spring after nearly 13 years in office. Appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed in 2009, he is the 10th archivist to oversee the National Archives as well as the nation's now 15 presidential libraries. During his tenure, Mr. Ferriero presided over a digital transformation of how archival material is collected and preserved. And it was under his leadership that the Archives debuted "Remembering Vietnam," its first-ever exhibit on that divisive conflict. Mr. Ferriero, a veteran of that war, served as a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman. He talks about his accomplishments and challenges at the Archives and the work that remains for his successor.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author & journalist Matthew Continetti talks about the history of the American right-wing since the early 20th century. He says that a populist strain challenged mainstream conservatism several times over that period, ultimately triumphing with the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Mr. Continetti is also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and founding editor at the Washington Free Beacon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During discussions over the reunification of Germany in 1990, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker told Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward. "Not one inch," Baker assured Gorbachev. In the lead-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin used those words to suggest that the U.S. and NATO were not interested in peace and could not be trusted. Mary Sarotte, professor of history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and author of "Not One Inch," talks about the 1990 comment and the impact that NATO expansion since then has had on U.S.-Russia relations.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 15th, 2022, marks the 75th anniversary of the day that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Since 2004, April 15th has been known in the baseball world as "Jackie Robinson Day," in honor of the Brooklyn Dodgers player. We talked with Kostya Kennedy, former senior writer for Sports Illustrated, about Jackie Robinson's life and career. In his new book "True," Mr. Kennedy writes about four significant years in Robinson's life: 1946, when he started in the minor leagues; 1949, when he was named National League MVP; 1956, his final year playing baseball; and 1972, the year of his untimely death.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his will, Benjamin Franklin left 1000 pounds sterling each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia. The money was to be loaned out, in small increments and at low-interest rates, to tradesmen who wanted to start their own businesses. Franklin estimated that even with a small rate of return, the trust fund would grow over the years and both cities would end up with large windfalls by the end of the twentieth century. University of Pittsburgh professor Michael Meyer, author of "Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet," discusses Franklin's micro-lending scheme and assesses its legacy.        Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed by the Senate, we will have the most diverse Supreme Court in U.S. history. University of Tennessee law professor Benjamin Barton, author of "The Credentialed Court," argues that while this is true on the surface, a closer look suggests that there is a "radical similarity" among the justices – especially when considering their educational and career paths after graduating high school. He has spent the past 12 years studying the backgrounds of Supreme Court justices throughout history and says that the justices today come from more elite circles and have much narrower experiences than their predecessors did, leading to a kind of group-think that is often overlooked when examining the court.           Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The title of the book "The Year That Broke America" refers to the year 2000, when an immigration crisis captured the headlines, Donald Trump ran for president, and Al Qaeda operatives arrived in the U.S. to learn to fly. Author Andrew Rice, a contributing editor at New York magazine, discusses the events of that year, which started with the fear of a global computer meltdown and ended with a fight over one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Law professor Renee Knake Jefferson, co-author of “Shortlisted” discusses the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court and talks about some of the women who were considered for the court in the past, but were passed over.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speechwriter and consultant Dana Rubin discusses her Speaking While Female Speech Bank, an online archive of speeches made by women throughout history that she says have been unjustly overlooked or forgotten. She talks about the archive and speeches by Queen Elizabeth II, Barbara Jordan, Phyllis Schlafly and others.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers were active participants in the Civil Rights Movement. They took part in boycotts, strikes, marches, and demonstrations and faced many of the same risks as their adult counterparts. Professor of history emeritus V. P. Franklin, author of "The Young Crusaders," joins us to talk about the stories of these sometimes overlooked contributors to social justice in the United States.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On almost all presidential rankings lists, you will find Warren Harding's name at or near the bottom. On C-SPAN's 2021 survey of presidential historians, he was 37 out of 44. Historian Ryan Walters argues that while Harding had his faults, his accomplishments – including bringing the country back to normalcy after WWI and setting out an economic plan that led to the Roaring Twenties – are often overlooked when assessing his presidency. In his book "The Jazz Age President," Mr. Walters lays out his case for why President Harding should rank higher.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the summer of 2020, roughly 214 public monuments have been taken down across the United States, either through official processes or by force. Erin Thompson, professor of art crime at the City University of New York and the author of "Smashing Statues," talks about the history of American monuments, the motivations for putting them up, and the current debates over which ones should be taken down.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hoover Institution senior fellow Amy Zegart talked about the espionage threats facing the United States from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea and assessed whether our intelligence agencies are prepared to deal with them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last slave ship carrying captives from Africa to America arrived in Alabama in 1860, more than fifty years after the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States. The 110 slaves aboard the ship were brought to U.S. shores as the result of a bet made by a wealthy Alabama slaveholder who bragged that he could circumvent the prohibition. To cover his tracks he burned and scuttled the ship, named Clotilda, in a swamp just north of Mobile, where it remained until it was discovered by reporter Ben Raines in 2019. Mr. Raines tells the story of Clotilda and its descendants in his book "The Last Slave Ship."       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Sutton, the former Chief Historian of the National Park Service, tells the story of a secret military intelligence facility near Washington, DC, where 3,000 high-value Nazis were interrogated by U.S. servicemen during World War Two. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2022 is a big year for space science. NASA has two major missions underway. The first – DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) – will test the agency's ability to defend Earth against asteroids. The second – the James Webb Space Telescope (the successor to Hubble) – will be used to study the origins of the universe and search for possible life in the universe beyond Earth. We talked about these missions with Nancy Chabot, Planetary Chief Scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory and Coordination Lead on the DART mission, and Meredith MacGregor, assistant professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can human genes be patented and owned? That's the question behind Jorge Contreras' book "The Genome Defense." The author and professor of law at the University of Utah tells the story of the 2013 Supreme Court case Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics. The longshot case, brought by the ACLU, challenged the right to patent human genes, a practice that had been used by biotech companies for decades.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calls between President Lyndon Johnson & members of Congress & the administration on the establishment of The Warren Commission which would look into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This program begins with background information from Max Holland author of "The Kennedy Assassination Tapes: The White House Conversations of Lyndon Johnson Regarding the Assassination, the Warren Commission & the Aftermath" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marc Selverstone, Chair of the Presidential Recordings Program at the Miller Center of the University of Virginia explains the background of the LBJ tapes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joshua Prager talks about the complicated life and times of Norma McCorvey - aka “Jane Roe” - and the 1971 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case over the right to have an abortion that bears her name. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Byron started working at the Nixon Foundation in 2007 as a marketing intern. He was 14-years-old. This past November, at age 28, he was appointed president and CEO of the foundation. Mr. Byron joined us to talk about the Nixon Foundation and its role in operating the Nixon Library & Museum site in Yorba Linda, California. He also talks about his goals for the foundation, including getting more young people interested in the life and career of President Nixon.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist J.B. MacKinnon discussed what would happen to the economy and the environment if the world cut consumption by twenty-five percent. He argued that we are currently using up the world's resources at a rate that is unsustainable and questioned what it would take to get people - especially consumer-driven Americans - to buy fewer things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A conversation with Former Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) who opened a book store in Oyster Bay, New York. Plus, a look at current non-fiction books featured on C-SPAN's BookTV for the week of November 28, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mayukh Sen, a James Beard Award-winning writer and adjunct professor of food journalism at New York University, discusses his book "Taste Makers," in which he profiles seven immigrant women who transformed American cuisine during the second half of the 20th century. Two of the women profiled are Elena Zelayeta a blind chef and bestselling cookbook author from Mexico, and Chao Yang Buwei, who was a physician in China before becoming an influential writer on Chinese cooking in the United States.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states that "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws," is one of the most adjudicated amendments. The 1868 adoption of it has led to numerous Supreme Court cases and interpretations. Professors Randy Barnett (Georgetown University Law Center) and Evan Bernick (Northern Illinois University College of Law) argue in their book "The Original Meaning of the 14th Amendment" that the amendment, which gave the federal judiciary and Congress new powers over the states, has been misinterpreted by conservative and liberal judges alike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmakers Beth Levison and Jerry Risius discuss their documentary “Storm Lake,” about the Storm Lake Times, a small-town family-run newspaper in Iowa, and its efforts to stay afloat amidst shrinking ad revenues and the coronavirus pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Howard Husock, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of "The Poor Side of Town," takes a critical look at the more than 100-year effort by the federal government, private developers, and others to create low-cost housing in the United States.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Retired California superior court judge LaDoris Cordell, author of "Her Honor," takes a critical look at our legal system and offers suggestions on how to improve it. She talks about the importance of judicial independence, mandatory minimum sentencing, racial bias in jury selections, police reform, and more.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Opportunity Zones were created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Trump in December 2017. Originally the brainchild of Napster co-founder Sean Parker and supported by both Republicans and Democrats, the idea was to attract investment to poor communities across the U.S. by offering tax breaks for investors. Brookings Institution senior fellow and former Wall Street Journal economics editor and columnist David Wessel author of "Only the Rich Can Play," talks about the creation of Opportunity Zones and discusses the impact they have had.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paris was overtaken by the Nazis on June 14, 1940, and brutally occupied for more than four years. Thousands of Parisians died as a result. Martin Dugard, co-author with Bill O'Reilly of the bestselling "Killing" series and author of the new book "Taking Paris," talks about Paris during the time of the German occupation and the liberation of the city by the U.S. and French forces in August 1944.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Canellos, Politico editor-at-large and the author of The Great Dissenter, talked about the life, career, and legacy of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan of Kentucky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Looming Tower" and New Yorker staff writer, discusses his latest book "The Plague Year: America in the Time of COVID." He talks about the origins of COVID-19, the response to the outbreak by the Chinese government, and the handling of the pandemic by the Trump administration and CDC.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wall Street Journal columnist and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Jason Riley talks about the life and influence of economist Thomas Sowell ("SOUL"), now 91, whose writings on economics, race, culture, education and politics have inspired conservatives and libertarians for a half-century. Mr. Riley is the author of the biography "Maverick" and is also the host of a documentary on Mr. Sowell that came out in January 2021.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jessica DuLong, the former chief engineer on NYC fireboat John J. Harvey, talks about the rescue of nearly 500,000 people, by boat, off the island of Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks. It was the largest maritime evacuation in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three House lawmakers - Reps. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Jason Crow (D-CO), and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) - recount their first-hand experiences on January 6, when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brown University professor Megan Kate Nelson teaches a class about guerilla warfare, which is largely characterized by its tactics, including ambushes and surprise raids on unsuspecting troops and towns. She talks about the guerrilla soldiers fighting on both the Union and Confederate sides during the Civil War. These small bands of men on horseback were nimble and difficult to capture, especially Confederate guerrillas who often did not wear uniforms and blended back into the population after an attack.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow argues that the mainstream media has destroyed its credibility. He's interviewed by Reason Magazine editor at large Matt Welch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Harlow Unger chats with Brian Lamb about the work and legacy of Thomas Paine. Mr. Paine's political writings inspired American revolutionaries, but his later writings on religion made him a pariah. Harlow Unger's book, "Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence," is the latest of 27 he has written, including many on the Founding Fathers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Eleanor Herman joins Brian Lamb to talk about her book, "Sex with Presidents," about sex scandals involving U.S. presidents going back to the early years of the Republic. Eleanor Herman is the author of many other books, including "Sex with the Queen" and "Sex with Kings." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Clinton administration aide Gary Ginsberg, author of "First Friends," talked about the personal confidants of U.S. presidents and the influence they wielded. He talks about banker and businessman Bebe Rebozo, who Richard Nixon knew for 44 years, and civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, one of Bill Clinton's closest advisers for much of his political career, among others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington Post syndicated finance columnist Michelle Singletary discusses how people should react financially during an economic downturn. She also talks about her love of budgets, her hatred of debt, and the future of the U.S. economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jessica DuLong, the former chief engineer on NYC fireboat John J. Harvey, talks about the rescue of nearly 500,000 people, by boat, off the island of Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks. It was the largest maritime evacuation in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Ritchie, historian emeritus of the U.S. Senate, talks about the influence of Drew Pearson’s muckraking “Washington Merry-Go-Round” columns, which derailed many political careers in Washington and drew the ire of every president from FDR to Nixon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and historian Craig Fehrman analyzes American presidents through the lens of the books they've written. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do people like to get intoxicated? Edward Slingerland, professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia, tries to answer the question in his latest book, "Drunk," which looks at the evolutionary purpose of intoxication and the role that drinking has played throughout history.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Were government-mandated lockdowns in the U.S. necessary to stop the pandemic? John Tamny, director of the Center for Economic Freedom at FreedomWorks, says they weren’t and argues they have done more harm than good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Harvard professor Annette Gordon-Reed talks about the history and legacy of Juneteenth - June 19th - the day in 1865 that enslaved African Americans in Texas were informed of their emancipation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Osnos, a longtime reporter, editor, and publisher and the author of An Especially Good View: Watching History Happen, talked about his family’s escape from Poland in 1939, working for I.F. Stone, covering the Vietnam War and publishing books by former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Osnos was vice president and senior editor at Random House from 1984-1996 and publisher and CEO at PublicAffairs, which he founded, from 1997-2005.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During World War II, the U.S. Army created a "Ghost Army" that used inflatable rubber tanks, sound effects, fake radio transmissions, and performance art to fool the Germans into miscalculating the strength and location of American troops. Its mission remained classified until 1996. Filmmaker and author Rick Beyer ("BY"-er) talks about the 1,100 men who served with the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops – aka the Ghost Army – during the war. Mr. Beyer has directed a documentary and co-written a book about the unit.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Attorney Greg Francis discusses his book “Just Harvest,” about a class-action discrimination lawsuit brought by black farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1997, resulting in a billion dollar settlement two years later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Wall Street Journal reporter and Washington, DC, resident Neil King talks about his nearly 300-mile walking trip to New York City this past April to connect with American history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Theoretical physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein talks about subatomic particles, the mysteries of the universe, and the journey she took to become one of less than one hundred black American women to receive a PhD in physics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investigative journalist Lawrence Roberts talks about the “Spring Offensive” of 1971, during which tens of thousands of anti-Vietnam War protesters, including Vietnam War veterans, came to Washington, DC, in an effort to shut down the federal government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page, author of "Madam Speaker," talks about the life and political career of Democratic congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who became the first female Speaker of the House in 2007 and is currently serving her second term in the position.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington Post political columnist Karen Tumulty discusses her biography of former First Lady Nancy Reagan. She talks about the role Mrs. Reagan played as political adviser to Ronald Reagan and as a mother. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julia Sweig, senior research fellow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin, talks about the influence Lady Bird Johnson had on Lyndon Johnson’s decision-making, both before and during his presidency. www.oracle.com/goto/cspan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and Pedro Noguera, dean of the school of education at USC, debated education policy and talked about the importance of having civil discussions over political disputes, especially when principled differences of opinion are involved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Elizabeth Becker tells the story of three women - Australian correspondent Kate Webb, French photographer Catherine Leroy, and American intellectual Frances FitzGerald - who reported on the Vietnam War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kansas City-based Susan Vollenweider and Beckett Graham, co-hosts of The History Chicks podcast, talk about the origins of the now 10-year-old podcast, its growing popularity over the years, and some of the women they've covered on their fortnightly look into U.S. history, including Queen Lili'uokalani of Hawaii and inventor Lydia Pinkham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Weigel, a Catholic theologian, author and distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, talks about some of the people he profiles in Not Forgotten, his new book of elegies and reminiscences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jayme Lemke, senior fellow with George Mason University’s Mercatus Center’s F. A. Hayek Program, talks about the social and economic disruption caused by the COVID pandemic and the response by the U.S. government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erica Armstrong Dunbar, professor of history at Rutgers University, talks about her book, "She Came to Slay," about the life and exploits of Underground Railroad conductor and Union Army spy, Harriet Tubman.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Texas history professor Peniel Joseph talks about the activism and converging ideologies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., and the importance of their thinking on the fight for civil rights in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Rikha Sharma Rani discusses her profile of Vice President Kamala Harris’s late mother, Shyamala, who came to the United States from India in 1958, and Prof. Devesh Kapur talks about the larger story of Indian immigration to the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wall Street Journal reporter Aruna Viswanatha talks about the federal investigation into the January 6th attack on the Capitol and Northeastern University political science professor Max Abrahms discusses whether the government needs new authority to properly deal with domestic extremists.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investigative journalist Lawrence Roberts talks about the “Spring Offensive” of 1971, during which tens of thousands of anti-Vietnam War protesters, including Vietnam War veterans, came to Washington, DC, in an effort to shut down the federal government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of California at Berkeley historian of medicine Elena Conis talks about the development of the polio vaccine in the 1950s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarada Peri, senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama, and John McConnell, senior speechwriter for President George W. Bush, join us to talk about presidential inaugural addresses, from JFK to the upcoming inaugural address of President-elect Joe Biden.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative magazine, takes a critical look at the Baby Boomer Generation and argues that they have left subsequent generations, especially Millennials, worse off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actor Nic Novicki, founder and director of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, talks about the 2020 entries and the winning films in three categories: best awareness campaign, best editor, and best film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jake Wood talks about serving with the U.S. Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan and with Team Rubicon, the disaster response organization that he co-founded with a fellow Marine in 2010. Seventy percent of the over 100,000 U.S. volunteers that serve with Team Rubicon are military veterans.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Q&A we talk with the youngest women in the freshmen class of 117th Congress, Republican Kat Cammack of Florida and Democrat Sara Jacobs of California. They discuss their backgrounds and what they hope to accomplish in office. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historians Susan Schulten and Eric Rauchway talk about two of the most contentious presidential transitions in U.S. history - in 1861, between James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln, and in 1933, between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author Elaine Weiss discussed her book, "The Woman's Hour," about the lead-up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 18, 1920, that granted women the right to vote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmaker James Taing discusses his documentary “Ghost Mountain,” about the 1979 massacre of Cambodian survivors of Pol Pot’s Killing Fields by Thai soldiers along the Thailand-Cambodia border. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Texas at Austin sociology professor Sarah Brayne talks about the use of big data and new surveillance technologies by law enforcement, and discusses where this kind of policing may be headed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Savage, Los Angeles Times, 20th Anniversary of Bush v. Gore SCOTUS Case  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Matthew Weil and CNET’s Laura Hautala talk about mail-in ballots, election security, and the evolution of voting machines since the 1960s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The University of Chicago’s Kathleen Belew and the Wall Street Journal’s Jillian Kay Melchior talk about the Proud Boys and Antifa, right and left-wing groups, respectively, that have used violent tactics to further their goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actor Nic Novicki, founder and director of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, talks about the 2020 entries and the winning films in three categories: best awareness campaign, best editor, and best film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and 2020 Kirkus Book Prize finalist Isabel Wilkerson argues that the United States has a hidden caste system that has played a role throughout its history and produced the racial divisions and injustices we see today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro talks about the history of U.S. Supreme Court nominations and the confirmation battles that sometimes accompany them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and 2020 Kirkus Book Prize finalist Eric Jay Dolin talks about the destruction caused by hurricanes throughout U.S. history and the science and technology being applied to deal with them today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and historian Harold Holzer examines the relationship, often hostile, between the media and U.S. presidents going back to George Washington. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the UK-based medical journal The Lancet, talks about the COVID-19 outbreak and the response to it by governments around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pamela Constable recently completed a lengthy tour as the Washington Post's Afghanistan/Pakistan bureau chief. She talks about her work, the people she's met, the issues she's covered, and conditions today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and historian Harold Holzer examines the relationship, often hostile, between the media and U.S. presidents going back to George Washington. During part one of our two-part interview with Mr. Holzer, he talks about presidents prior to FDR. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katherine Gehl, founder of the Institute for Political Innovation, argues that our current political system is leading to voter disenchantment and an unhealthy level of partisanship, and suggests ways to improve it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author Elaine Weiss discussed her book, "The Woman's Hour," about the lead-up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 18, 1920, that granted women the right to vote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam discussed whether the COVID-19 pandemic and current civil unrest in the country will lead to people moving out of large U.S. cities, as was seen after the 1960s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace discusses his book, “Countdown 1945,” about the creation of the atomic bomb and President Truman’s thinking during the months leading up to its use on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6th, 1945. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Representative John Lewis (D-Georgia) discussed his life and involvement in the civil rights movement, including the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, during which he was severely beaten by state troopers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Burtka, executive director and acting editor of The American Conservative, talks about the special edition of the magazine which examines where American conservatism came from and where it is going in the age of Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Erin Geiger Smith talks about the history of voting in the United States and some of the issues surrounding voting today, including low voter turnout, voter suppression, and the reliability of voting by mail.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Physician and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee talks about the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the medical science that is being used to combat it.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of California at Berkeley historian of medicine Elena Conis talks about the development of the polio vaccine in the 1950s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Texas history professor Peniel Joseph talks about the activism and converging ideologies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., and the importance of their thinking on the fight for civil rights in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” discussed his book, Imperfect Union, which chronicles John and Jessie Fremont and their exploration of the American West in the 19th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peggy Wallace Kennedy talked about her segregationist father’s controversial career as the former four-term Alabama governor and presidential candidate, and his later political conversion after almost being assassinated in 1972. She also talked about her friendship with Representative John Lewis (D-GA).  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Malcolm Gladwell discussed his new book, Talking to Strangers, about how people make judgments, often inaccurately, about strangers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Jeff Guinn talked about his book The Vagabonds: The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison’s Ten-Year Road Trip, on the highly-publicized summer road trips taken by Henry Ford and Thomas Edison between 1914-1925. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Susannah Cahalan talked about her book, The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness, about a 1973 experiment, led by Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan, conducted to test the legitimacy of psychiatric hospitals in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and historian Craig Fehrman analyzes American presidents through the lens of the books they’ve written. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lual Mayen recounted his journey from life as a South Sudanese refugee to a Washington, D.C.-based video game developer and CEO of his company Junub Games. He was gaining acclaim for his work on peace and conflict resolution by bringing the refugee experience to a wider audience through his video game “Salaam,” which means “peace” in Arabic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Wall Street trader turned photojournalist Chris Arnade discussed his book "Dignity," in which he documents the plight of those living on the margins of society in America. He talked about his photos and shared stories about some of the people he befriended during his travels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former U.S. Senate aide James Wallner, who currently researches and writes about Congress at the R Street Institute, joins us to talk about the role and power of Senate Majority Leaders throughout history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We profile Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and a prominent member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation chair, author and economic historian Amity Shlaes joins us to talk about the history of U.S. government responses to economic crises, including the Great Depression, the 2008 global recession, and the coronavirus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christian McMillen talks about the history of pandemics. He is the author of “Pandemics: A Very Short Introduction” and is a University of Virginia associate dean for social sciences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NPR “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep discusses his book, “Imperfect Union,” which chronicles John and Jessie Fremont and their exploration of the American West in the 19th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of former 4-term Alabama governor and presidential candidate segregationist George Wallace, talks about her father’s controversial career and his later political conversion after almost being assassinated in 1972. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carl Cannon, Washington Bureau Chief of RealClearPolitics, discusses the history of Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Green looks back over history & into our own time to talk about notable Speakers - including Henry Clay, Joe Cannon, Newt Gingrich, and current Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He is a Catholic University political science professor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and historian Craig Fehrman analyzes American presidents through the lens of the books they've written. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lual Mayen recounts his journey from life as a South Sudanese refugee to a Washington, D.C.-based video game developer and CEO of his company Junub Games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, talks about being part of NASA's first class of female astronauts and her participation in the launch and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Yepsen talks about the history of the "First-in-the-Nation" Iowa caucuses, which are held this year on February 3, 2020. Mr. Yepsen was the chief political writer for the Des Moines Register, where he covered politics for 34 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former [New Hampshire Union Leader] Publisher and now Editor-at-Large Joseph McQuaid talks about his state's presidential primary history. This year's primary is February 11, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian emeritus of the U.S. Senate, Donald Ritchie, talks about the process and history of Senate impeachment trials, including those of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Weiss, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, talks about the life of poet Michael O'Donnell, who went missing in action during the Vietnam War after the helicopter he was piloting was shot down over Cambodia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Azra Raza, professor of medicine and director of the MDS Center at Columbia University, takes a critical look at the way we have treated cancer in the United States since the early 1970s and discusses how patient care can be improved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Massachusetts professor Holly Jackson discusses her book, [American Radicals], about the people, inspired by the Founding Fathers, who worked to spread freedom and equality in the United States during the 19th Century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Newseum's Patty Rhule talks about how the press has covered American presidents over the course of our history. She is vice president of the museum's content and exhibit development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lara Brown of George Washington University discusses how the current presidential nominating system developed. She is the political management school director at George Washington University & author of "Jockeying for the American Presidency." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pamela Constable recently completed a lengthy tour as the [Washington Post]'s Afghanistan/Pakistan bureau chief. She talks about her work, the people she's met, the issues she's covered, and conditions today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Susannah Cahalan discusses her book, [The Great Pretender], about a 1973 experiment led by Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan that was conducted to test the legitimacy of psychiatric hospitals in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Papez - a litigator and partner in the firm of Gibson Dunn, and former U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas -- discusses several high profile U.S. Supreme Court chief justices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Wall Street trader turned photojournalist Chris Arnade discusses his book, [Dignity], in which he documents the plight of those living on the margins of society in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American University Distinguished Professor of History Alan Kraut looks back at our politics and policies over the past two plus centuries to see how they transformed the laws designed to manage immigration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Jeff Guinn writes about the highly publicized summer road trips taken by Henry Ford and Thomas Edison between 1914-1925 in his book, [The Vagabonds]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Smithsonian Institution's Peter Liebhold discusses the history of tariffs in managing the U.S. economy. He is a work and industry curator at the National Museum of American History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian James Banner discusses his book, "Presidential Misconduct: From George Washington to Today" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kay Coles James about her life, career in government and politics, and her work as president of the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell discusses about his new book, [Talking to Strangers], about how we make judgments, often inaccurately, about people we don't know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Washington history professor Margaret O'Mara discusses her book, [The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America], about the rise of Silicon Valley and the role that the federal government played in its evolution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Historian David McCullough discusses his latest book, [The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author David Maraniss discusses his book, [A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harold Holzer and Amity Shlaes talk about C-SPAN's latest book, [The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times columnist David Brooks discusses his book "The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

High school students from the U.S. Senate Youth Program talk about their week in Washington and what they've learned from the experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page discusses her book, [The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Douglas Brinkley talks about his book, "American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Supreme Court reporter Joan Biskupic discusses her biography of Chief Justice John Roberts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and LBJ biographer Robert Caro discusses his book, [Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iraq War veteran and former State Department official Matthew Hoh talks about his article, "Time for Peace in Afghanistan and an End to the Lies." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Penn State history professor Amy Greenberg discusses her book [Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Army veteran Eileen Rivers talks about her book "Beyond the Call: Three Women on the Front Lines in Afghanistan." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

West Point English professor Elizabeth Samet discusses her annotated edition of Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monica Norton, Washington Post deputy local editor, talks about James Baldwin's "If Beale Street Could Talk" and the impact the book had on her as a teenager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) talks about her memoir, [Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yale University historian Joanne Freeman discusses her book, "The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Southern Methodist University's Jeffrey Engel discusses his book, [When the World Seemed New: George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grace Kennan Warnecke, daughter of American diplomat George Kennan, discusses her memoir, [Daughter of the Cold War]." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Amy Wax talked about the limits of free expression on college campuses in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku talks about his book, [The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yale University Law School professor Amy Chua discusses her book, [Political Tribes], about the role that group identity plays in shaping domestic and foreign affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prosperity gospel scholar, Kate Bowler, discusses her memoir, [Everything Happens for a Reason], in which she reflects on being diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at the age of 35. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times staff photographer Doug Mills talks about some of the photos he took during the 2016 presidential race and discusses what it's like to cover President Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caitriona Perry, former Washington correspondent for RTE, Ireland's public service broadcaster, talks about her book, [In America], which chronicles her encounters with Trump supporters during the 2016 presidential election season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Musician and author Daryl Davis talks about his efforts over the past 30 years to befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan to try to understand their hatred and to convince them that they are wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Allison Stanger, professor of international politics and economics at Middlebury College in Vermont, talks about students' reaction to the appearance of author Charles Murray on Campus last March. Both were attacked by students following the event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saudi Arabian women's rights activist Manal Al-Sharif talks about her book, [Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Columnist and political commentator Pat Buchanan, who served as a speechwriter and senior adviser to President Nixon, discusses his book, [Nixon's White House Wars]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cumberland University history professor Mark Cheathem discusses his book, [Andrew Jackson, Southerner], and talks about the comparisons made between President Jackson and President Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heather McGhee, president of Demos, talks about an August 2016 appearance on Washington Journal and how a call from a white man in North Carolina, who said he was prejudiced, started a conversation about race in America and evolved into a friendship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Johns Hopkins University political science professor Benjamin Ginsberg discusses his book, [What Washington Gets Wrong: The Unelected Officials Who Actually Run the Government and Their Misconceptions about the American People]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Strauss discusses his book, [Worst. President. Ever.: James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Candice Millard discusses her book, [Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former New York Police Department Deputy Inspector Corey Pegues discusses his book, [Once a Cop: The Street, the Law, Two Worlds, One Man], about his experiences in law enforcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Editorial cartoonist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Ramirez talks about his career and his book, [Give Me Liberty or Give Me Obamacare]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Edmund Morris discusses his most recent book [This Living Hand: and Other Essays], his upcoming book on Thomas Edison, his career as a biographer of presidents and other notable figures, and how he approaches his craft as a writer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Robert Dallek talks about his recently released historical narrative, "Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House." Dallek describes his book as taking an inside look at the brain trust surrounding President Kennedy's administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bloomberg correspondent and author Amity Shlaes talks about her biography of President Calvin Coolidge, [Coolidge], in which she traces the life of the president from his early days through his presidency and ultimate return to New England. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Justice John Paul Stevens discusses his memoir detailing the workings of the Supreme Court, including his personal views of and interactions with the five most recent chief justices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Doar, former assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, talked about his involvement in several major civil rights events during the 1960s. In 1962, he worked to gain the entry of James Meredith into the then-segregated University of Mississippi. In 1963, he confronted and calmed protesters in Jackson, Mississippi, after the assassination of Medgar Evers. He also prosecuted and convicted many individuals on federal civil rights violations including those accused of killing three Mississippi civil rights workers, which was later depicted in movie [Mississippi Burning]. In 1974, he became chief counsel for the House Judiciary Committee's investigation of Watergate and helped to prepare articles of impeachment against President Nixon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this 2008 interview from C-SPAN's Q&A series, the late historian and author William Seale discusses the history of the White House and its residents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices