Roundup

30 April -- On This Day [multiple clips]

1975: Saigon surrenders. The war in Vietnam ends as the government in Saigon announces its unconditional surrender to the Vietcong. Other video and audio from the BBC news archive, WWII and 1950-2004 includes 1973: Nixon takes rap for Watergate scandal; 1999: Dozens injured in Soho nail bomb; 1993: Tennis star stabbed; 1952: Anne Frank published in English.

The Haymarket Riot Remembered [7min]

On May 4, 1886, a bomb went off in Chicago that ignited one of the nation's first red scares. The blast killed seven police officers and led to the hanging of four anarchists accused of plotting the attack. Historian James Green's book Death in the Haymarket explores the tensions that led to the explosion and the panic that followed. He talks with Debbie Elliott about a period of paranoia in American life, and the ways the violence helped to shape the modern labor movement.

Wax Cylinder [9min]

Bill Radke talks to Tim Brooks about some of the earliest recordings put to wax. Literally. Tim is the author of Lost Sounds: Blacks And the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919. He talks about how these recordings helped shape history.

L.A. Hosts Pentecostal Centennial Celebration [4min]

In April 1906, a mission on Azusa Street in Los Angeles launched an international religious movement. As Rachael Myrow of member station KPCC reports, 100,000 Pentecostal and charismatic Christians are celebrating the centennial.

'Before the Dawn' Author Nicholas Wade [30min]

Reporter Nicholas Wade talks about how DNA analysis is rewriting our recent -- and ancient -- history, including a better understanding the evolution of humans. His new book is Before the Dawn: Recovering The Lost History of Our Ancestors.

America’s Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia [65min]

For fifty-five years, the United States and Saudi Arabia were solid partners. Rachel Bronson argues that contrary to popular belief this relationship was never simply about"oil for security." Saudi Arabia's geographic location and religiously motivated foreign policy figured prominently in America’s Cold War efforts to defeat communism. From Egypt to Nicaragua, the two worked to beat back Soviet expansion, but decisions made for Cold War purposes left behind a legacy that today enflames the Midd

29 April -- On This Day [multiple clips]

1992: LA in flames after 'not guilty' verdict. Fierce rioting breaks out in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four white police officers accused of beating black motorist Rodney King. Also: 1993: Queen to open Buckingham Palace doors; 1978: Afghan coup rebels claim victory; 1986: Simple funeral rites for Duchess of Windsor; 1958: My Fair Lady dazzles London.

Book Examines Relationship Between Hitler and Stalin [13min]

Drawing on newly available original sources -- including diaries and personal papers -- a new book examines the relationship between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin during World War II. Guest: John Lukacs, historian and author of more than 20 books. His latest is June 1941: Hitler and Stalin.

On This Day, 1945: Russians and Americans Link at Elbe [45sec]

Russian and American troops have joined hands at the River Elbe in Germany, bringing the end of the war a step closer. Statements have been released simultaneously in London, Moscow and Washington this evening reaffirming the determination of the three Allied powers to complete the destruction of the Third Reich. According to a statement issued by Downing Street, the commanders of a United States division and of a Russian Guards division met at Torgau, south of Berlin on 26 April at 1600 hours l

Warming Eases Northwest Passage, Author Says [7min]

European explorers spent centuries searching for a passage through the ice at the top of the world. The Northwest Passage, a shortcut to Asia, proved elusive until about 100 years ago, when Norway's Roald Amundsen completed a three-year journey. These days, thanks to global warming and a receding ice cover, the voyage is easier to complete, says explorer James Delgado, author of Across the Top of the World. In 2000, with a decidedly smaller, modern craft -- an aluminum catamaran -- it too

British Fashion between WWI & WWII [9min]

Emily Tinne was a woman who loved to shop -- from the time she was married until just before the Second World War she amassed a huge collection of dresses, coats, hats and shoes, but she hardly ever wore any of them. Instead they were lovingly stored in wardrobes and tea chests, often left with the tag still on. Now hundreds of items are going on show at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery as part of the exhibition "A Passion for Fashion". It represents one of the finest collections of clot

Lysenko vs Vavilov [15min]

Science and politics have never felt comfortable with each other, but the relationship sank to a brutal low in Russia in the 1920s. The Communist Revolution had delivered power to the masses, but the masses weren’t delivering the goods. Agriculture, and in particular cereal production, was high on Stalin’s list for attention -- the drive to increase productivity was immense and the new science of genetics had a vital role to play. Nikolai Ivanovitch Vavilov, an extraordinarily gifted agricultura

Newton vs Leibniz [15min]

William Hartston recalls the insults traded when great scientific minds have collided. It is probably impossible to overestimate the importance to science of differential and integral calculus. It is now generally accepted that Newton and Leibniz discovered it independently of each other, Newton first formulating his methods around 1665. But when Leibniz, a German civil servant, published his work in 1684 and didn’t even mention the name of the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, who had helped h

De La Beche vs Murchison [15min]

William Hartston recalls the insults traded when great scientific minds have collided. In the third set of tantrums we move on to the unseemly row which developed among leading earth scientists in the 1830s. The new science of geology was just beginning to make progress with working out the sequence in which different rocks were laid down. At the same time it was also becoming successful at predicting where coal could be found. So all was well and there was a rush to map the country and establis

Priestley vs Lavoisier [15min]

William Hartston recalls the insults traded when great scientific minds have collided. There are two pugilists in our second squabble. The English contender was Joseph Priestley -- a minister of the church, a librarian and literary companion to the political aristocracy. On the French side, Antoine Lavoisier -- wealthy son of a lawyer, social climber, tax collector and widely held to be the founder of modern chemistry. In or around 1774 both men were working on a gas closely associated with comb

'Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene' [38min]

Religion scholar Bart D. Ehrman, who chairs the Department of Religious Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, talks about his new book, Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend. Ehrman looks into the lives of three major followers of Christ, plumbing legend and the writings of the New Testament to illuminate facts and details about these figures. Ehrman is also the author of Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why and Lost Chri

Ukraine Remembers Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster [4min]

Renee Montagne speaks with reporter Alex Kleimenov in Kiev, Ukraine, about ceremonies taking place to mark 20 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Debate Rages About Impact of Chernobyl Disaster [5min]

Twenty years after the world's worst nuclear accident, more countries are beginning to discuss nuclear power as part of the answer to global energy demands. But a rancorous debate about the Chernobyl disaster's impact still rages, and the reactor continues to pose a serious safety threat.

Philbrick's 'Mayflower' [5min]

Listen to an audiobook clip from Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, which accompanies David Gates's review of the book. Gates's review may be summarized in its online title:"Pilgrims' Bloody Progress: Nathaniel Philbrick takes on Mayflower fairy tales."

'Let Every Nation Know': JFK in His Own Words [37min]

Often described as the first president of the television age, John F. Kennedy was profoundly affected by the rhetoric of Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, and he consciously tried to cast himself in their mold. Kennedy's presidency lasted only 1,000 days, one of the briefest in American history. Yet it's well remembered, not just because of dramatic events -- the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil-rights movement and the space race -- but because of the words the president used to describe