She won a Pulitzer for criticism for her work at the New York Times. Her memoir, Negroland, received the National Book Critics Circle Award, and she was a high school cheerleader. One of those three does not belong, but which one? We convened at the CUNY Graduate Center with musicians Jefferson Hamer and Eamon O’Leary – … Continue reading »
Category Archives: Nonfiction
Episode 127: Frank Bruni
He is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, having been the paper’s Rome bureau chief, White House correspondent, restaurant critic, and more. During our conversation at JCC Manhattan, he describes meeting two long-time idols: one was a bit of a let down, one was entirely satisfying. Hear what happens when youthful dreams … Continue reading »
Episode 125: Azar Nafisi
Born in Tehran and educated in Switzerland and the University of Oklahoma, thus setting some kind of record for cultural contrast, she taught English literature at Tehran University and is now a fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Like millions of admirers, I first heard of her with the publication of … Continue reading »
Episode 118: Leandra Medine
Her website, Man Repeller, offers witty and insightful ideas about fashion, not just as what we wear but as who we are: clothing as a window onto the larger culture. Although who’d want a window made of cotton? The rain would soak through, and you couldn’t see out. Metaphors: they only take you so … Continue reading »
Episode 114: Mark Bittman
It is his core belief that food affects not only our personal but our political health, a principle he has expressed through cook books, cooking shows, and an op-ed column in the New York Times. During our conversation at JCC Manhattan, he cooked chili for the entire audience. Of course he didn’t. But he did … Continue reading »
Episode 110: Jill Abramson
She joined the NY Times in 1997 and rose to executive editor, the first to hold that rank who has acknowledged her tattoos, as well as being our first guest to have written books about both a supreme court justice and her own puppy. Among her current activities, she is a guest lecturer at Harvard. … Continue reading »
Movies / Music / Nonfiction
Episode 104: Paul Williams & Tracey Jackson
He is a songwriter who’s won an Oscar, 3 Grammies and 2 Golden Globes for hits like “We’ve only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Her TV and film scripts include Confessions of a Shopaholic for Jerry Bruckheimer. They are the co-authors of Gratitude and Trust: Six Affirmations that will Change Your Life. We spoke at Glenn … Continue reading »
Episode 103: Diane Ackerman
Poet, essayist, and naturalist, she is the author of two dozen works of nonfiction and poetry, including A Natural History of the Senses and, most recently, The Human Age We convened at Poets house, along with musical guest Maeve Gilchrist on the lever harp. PERSON:Antonina Zabinski PLACE: Camp Pinemere THING: Squirrel anaesthesia mask RANDY’S THING: … Continue reading »
Episode 102: Sheri Fink
Her Pulitzer-winning reporting on a New Orleans hospital battered by Katrina became the basis of her terrific book, Five Days at Memorial. And just two days before our conversation, she won another Pulitzer as part of the team doing Ebola coverage for the Times. She goes to places sensible people avoid and writes about them astutely. … Continue reading »
Episode 99: A. O. Scott
He joined the Times in 2000 and is now a chief movie critic. It’s tough to write about critics; they generally do not have lives teeming with event. And movie critics? They sit in the dark and watch something then sit at a desk and write about it. And in Scott’s case, talk about it … Continue reading »
Episode 93: Sandeep Jauhar
Dr. Sandeep Jauhar, director of the Heart Failure Program at L.I. Jewish Medical Center, is that rare combination: a physician who is both skilled at his profession and able to reflect on it eloquently, as he does in two books, Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation, and Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician. We spoke at … Continue reading »
Episode 89: Annette Gordon-Reed
During our first season, I was fortunate to have Annette Gordon-Reed on the show. Born in Livingston, Texas, in 1958, she teaches both law and history at Harvard. Her book The Hemingses of Monticello won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. The day before we were to record, her person, the writer Christopher Hitchens, died after a … Continue reading »