Radio Curious

Originally Broadcast: July 29, 2003

Click here to begin listening. 

In this program we visit with David Ebershoff, author “Pasadena,” a book about storytelling. “Pasadena” is the story of Linda Stamp, a young girl born and raised on a rural coastal area near San Diego, California, beginning when she was born in 1903. Linda learned the many different ways of the sea as she grew and married into a wealthy Pasadena family.

This is also a book about choices, some which we think through, and some which determine our fate even when we were unaware of the magnitude of the moment.

With the novelist’s freedom to he uses his sense of story, where it begins and where it ends. As the middle part of the story is built, so are the character’s lives, juxtaposing the times and places in their live times.

In many ways, California itself is the novel’s main character. We get to see what the land must have been like when it was a wild, teeming frontier, just on its way to being transformed by fishermen, farmers, land developers and tourists.

David Ebershoff is currently an executive editor at Random House, and lives in New York City. When and I visited by phone in July 2002, I asked him to describe the kinds of things in his life that prompted him to write his second novel “Pasadena.”

The book David Ebershoff recommends is “Middlesex,” a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides.

David Ebershoff’s website is: www.ebershoff.com.

Podcast: Download

• » Comments (0)

Click here to begin listening. 

Sweet Grass County: Historic Crossroad

Montana, the Big Sky state, is a place of significant historical interest in the history of North America and the United States. Sweet Grass County, located in south central Montana, is an area that since pre-historic times has been a justify of trade and historic crossroads of travel. Jack Hines worked as an artist in New York for 30 years until 1972 when he moved to Sweet Grass County, Montana. There he began the ”Historic Crossroad” painting and writing project, as a declaration of his love for his adopted home in the exquisite Yellowstone Valley of Montana. His paintings depict the life in that area beginning in the ice-age, through the times of the Indians, Lewis and Clark, the Fur trade and homesteading and listened to Jack reading from his book, “Sweet Grass County, Historic Crossroad,” in Big Timber, Montana.

Jack Hines recommends “Glow Smile, A Biography” & “What Went Wrong,” both by Bernard Louis.

Originally Broadcast: June 2, 2003

Podcast: Download

• » Comments (0)

Originally Broadcast: June 3, 2003

Click here to begin listening. 

Nothing to Fear, Lessons in Leadership from FDR

Alan Axelrod is a writer who has studied the cultural and business dimensions of America. “Nothing to Fear, Lessons in Leadership from FDR,” by Axelrod, focuses on FDR’s unique leadership style and what an effective leader is able to do. We spoke about FDR’s leadership skills in the first part of our discussion and then addressed the leadership style and effectiveness of President George W. Bush.

Alan Axelrod recommends “The Life of PT Barnum,” by PT Barnum.

Podcast: Download

• » Comments (0)

Click here to begin listening.

Julius Margolin and George Mann, two men separated in age by almost 46 years, are what might be called traveling troubadours. They carry the message of working people in song and spirit, bringing a wealth of union history wherever they go.

George Mann recommends “Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee,” by Dee Brown. Julain Margolin recommends books authored by Michael Moore.

Originally Broadcast: May 6, 2003

Podcast: Download

• » Comments (0)

Click here to begin listening. 

“Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption,” is a book written by Randall Kennedy, a Harvard University Law School Professor. He takes an in-depth look at the issue of black and white relationships set against the ever-changing social mores and laws of this country.

Fears of interracial relationships, influenced over the centuries by racial biases and fantasies still widely linger in American Society today.

Randall Kennedy, a professor at Harvard University Law School is the author of “Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption,” in which he takes an in depth look at the issue of black and white relationships set against the ever-changing social mores and laws of this country. From pre-civil war to the present, this book explores the historical, sociological, legal and moral issues that continue to feed and complicate those fears.

Professor Kennedy and I visited by phone in March 2003 and began by our conversation with his description of what he calls a “pigmentocracy” in the United States.

The book Professor Randall Kennedy recommends is “The Biography of Walter White,” by Robert Jankin.

Podcast: Download

• » Comments (0)

Click here to begin listening. 

The history of women has existed as long as humans have, but it was not until the last half of the 20^th Century that women’s history received recognized academic attention.  Our guest, Professor Gerda Lerner was a pioneer in the movement to study and record the history of women.

Gerda Lerner led an extraordinary life from April 30, 1920 to January 2, 2013.  She was a historian, author and teacher, and ultimately a professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin.  Her academic work was characterized by the attention she drew to the differences among women in class, race and sexual orientation.

Professor Lerner and I visited by phone in October 2002, began with her description why the distinctions among women of class, race and sexual orientation are important.

Originally Broadcast: October 1, 2002.

• » Comments (0)

Click here to begin listening. 

Sons of Heaven

In June of 1989, in Tienamin Square, in the justify of Beijing, China, one of the largest student protests ever to occur in that country took place. The “Sons of Heaven,” by Terrence Cheng, is a novel about three major players in this drama, Deng Xiao Ping, the leader of China at the time, and two brothers, one a soldier in the Red Army in Teinamin Square at the time, and the other the man who stood in front of the tanks.

Terrence Cheng recommends “Ghost Written,” by David Mitchell.

Originally Broadcast: August 1, 2002

Podcast: Download

• » Comments (0)

Click here to begin listening. 

No Turning Back—The History of Feminism and the Future of Women

The place of women in the world and in the American society has changed in many aspects in the recent past. Many people say this is due to the politics of feminism, and some inquire where it will lead.

I spoke with Professor Freedman by phone in April 2002 and asked her to talk about why feminism did not evolve as people evolved and civilization developed.

The books Professor Freedman recommends are “The Blind Assassin” by Margaret Atwood, and “The Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler.

Originally Broadcast: April 2, 2002

Podcast: Download

• » Comments (0)

Click here to begin listening.

Red Water

On September 11, 1857, a group of 120 emigrants en route to California was attacked and slaughtered by Mormon settlers and their Indian allies. Twenty years later, John D. Lee, a Mormon and a participant in the massacre, was executed by a firing squad at the same spot and thus entered history as the scapegoat for all those responsible for what came to be known as the Mountain Meadow Massacre in southern Utah. “Red Water,” by Judith Freeman, published in January 2002, is the story of the life of John D. Lee, as told by three of his nineteen wives. Judith Freeman describes early Mormon belief, the sense of persecution felt by the Mormons, and the sisterhood of his wives in marriage.

Judith Freeman recommends “Why Did I Ever,” by Mary Robinson.

Originally Broadcast: March 5, 2002

• » Comments (0)