Roundup

Israel, the 'Accidental Empire' [39min]

The Six-Day War of 1967 left Israel with a dilemma: what to do with the land it had taken in the process of winning a conflict that also involved Egypt, Syria and Jordan. A new book, The Accidental Empire, looks at what came next. Journalist Gershom Gorenberg is a former associate editor and columnist for The Jerusalem Report. He is the author of The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977. The book details how idealism and political agendas came to sh

Posthumous Pardons for Montana's WWI Seditionists [5min]

A group of law students is seeking posthumous pardons for Montana residents convicted of sedition during World War I. The men were convicted under the state's Sedition Act, then considered the harshest in the nation. Hope Stockwell of member station KUFM reports on the pardon project.

Remembering Baseball's Kirby Puckett [6min]

Baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett, who died Tuesday after suffering a stoke, will be remembered for his rare skill and the joy he brought to the game. Guest: Ron Shapiro, Kirby Puckett's agent.

Robert Fisk Predicts Another 9/11 [10min]

In an intereview with ABC Australia, Robert Fisk says that, in his three decades of reporting from the Middle East for British newspapers, he's never seen it more dangerous, and that he's certain another major crisis, possibly even another September 11, is coming.

World's Oldest Ship [6min @15:32]

They sailed the seas 4,000 years ago. And their journeys covered thousands of miles, in search of treasure. Now, millennia after they were put in dry-docks, the remains of ships that plied the Red Sea have been unearthed -- and researchers say they may be the oldest such remains in the world. They were discovered in caves at the edge of the Egyptian desert -- and they provide clues to an amazingly complex part of ancient Egyptian culture. Cheryl Ward is a professor of anthropology at Florida Sta

Stepin Fetchit, Hollywood's First Black Film Star [8min]

Although he never won an Oscar, Lincoln Perry was America's first black movie star. But for that distinction, Perry paid a heavy price -- he is best known as the character of Stepin Fetchit, a befuddled, mumbling, shiftless fool. Seen through a modern lens, Perry's"laziest man in the world" character can be painfully racist. Perry, a veteran of the vaudeville"Chitlin Circuit," got his break in Hollywood in 1927 when he was cast in the silent film In Old Kentucky. According to film histori

Lost Medieval Town? [28min]

Archaeologist and broadcaster Dr Francis Pryor explores the fascinating story of a young graduate who has just bought a field -- convinced he has discovered the lost medieval town of Trellech. Seven hundred years ago, Trellech was not only the industrial heart of Wales specialising in the manufacturing of iron, but also its biggest and most prosperous town. Stuart Wilson, 25, who has recently graduated in archaeology at York University, has set out to prove the experts wrong by buying a field in

Victorian Missionaries to Africa [15min]

British missionaries, sometimes in league with Dutch pastors, colonised Africa with the Ten Commandments. However, their zeal could not simply be directed at a nation. They faced the sacrificial obedience of tribes within tribes under the authority of the paramount chiefs. Undeterred, the missionaries were convinced pagans (they used the term in the AD 4th Century sense) would respond to a Christian belief that would give them the spiritual identity they lacked. "This Sceptred Isle: Empire&

Wahhabism Underpins Global Jihad [10min @17:00]

Historian Charles Allen joins a 45min roundtable discussion on the USA's Guantánamo detainment camp, detective fiction, and the UK's religion-sponsored public schools, to discuss the history of Wahhabism, the guiding ideology behind modern Islamist terrorism. His latest book, God's Terrorists (Little, Brown), is a history of the ideology underpinning global jihad and describes how the roots of an 18th century cult have grown to become a global threat."Start the Week" sets the cultural age

Voices in the News [2min]

A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including: Mardi Gras in New Orleans; jazz musician Kermit Ruffins; Amar Magget of Najaf; Said Fuwad Al-Grabi of Najaf; President Bush; Sakhaf of New Delhi; Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; Rep. Edward Makey (D-MA); Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Octavia Butler: Eye on the Stars, Feet on the Ground [4min]

Novelist Octavia Butler died this week at age 58. She was the first black woman to succeed in the science fiction genre. She was a private person who loved good conversation. Vist the ATC website to read Butler's essay "On Racism."

Story Behind the Numbers: The Year 1816 [3min]

Economic historians Richard Sutch and Susan Carter remember 1816, known as the year without a summer. Ash from a huge Indonesian volcanic explosion circled the globe, lowering temperatures and killing crops.

Sacco and Vanzetti: Guilty After All? [5min]

Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were a cause celebre of the 1920s, convicted of murder and executed after a trial many felt was a farce. Author Upton Sinclair wrote extensively about the case. Newly discovered letters reveal his suspicions that the men were guilty. Debbie Elliott gets the details from Sinclair biographer Tony Arthur.

West Africa -- Jaw-Jaw [15min]

Freetown, Sierra Leone, was a British Crown Colony that became a Protectorate in 1896. In 1812 Sir Charles M'Carthy was appointed governor in Freetown. M'Carthy was to suffer an inglorious and unexpected end. Inland, the Ashanti kings who ruled from the Golden Stool, said to have come from the great god guardian of the Ashanti soul, Nyame, would not allow themselves to be governed by the British. Also, by the 1820s the British had decided to support one of the other tribes, the Fanti, enemies of

Whaler from 1818 Dug Up Beneath San Francisco [4min]

A construction crew excavating land for a new high rise in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood recently dug-up a well-preserved chunk of the city's maritime past: A 19th-century whaling ship that archeologists believe was buried and forgotten as landfill after being abandoned by fortune-seeking sailors during the Gold Rush. It's the first such ship to be preserved nearly intact, and its remains are telling researchers about the history and economy of Gold Rush San Francisco. Richard Gon

'Joyeux Noel' Celebrates Brief Holiday Truce in WWI [4min]

It seems the wrong time of year to release a movie called"Merry Christmas." But the French film Joyeux Noel, about a celebrated World War I Christmas truce, is nominated for a Foreign Film Oscar at Sunday's Academy Awards. Bob Mondello reviews the film.

15 Years Later, Rodney King Looks Back [6min]

Fifteen years ago Friday, grainy video images were broadcast showing white Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King during a traffic stop. King and Milton Grimes, his attorney in the days after the attack, look back on that night and the days that followed. King's saga began on March 3, 1991, when he was pulled over for driving recklessly in Lake View Terrace, a residential suburb of Los Angeles. King reportedly resisted arrest and charged at one of the police officers. An amateur videota

Lessons Learned from the King Beating and Riots [6min]

Some say there's still much work needed to eliminate police brutality and improve race relations in America. Ed Gordon talks with radio show host Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Washington Post reporter Lou Cannon about the lessons of the 1991 Rodney King beating.

William Jennings Bryan, the President Who Wasn't [6min]

A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan is the new history from Michael Kazin. Bryan has been described by Kazin as"one of the most crucial Americans never to win a presidential election."

Using Teamwork to Crack the Enigma Code [4min]

A global team of computer users has cracked one of the remaining World War II messages encoded by the Nazi Enigma machine. Noah Adams talks to Ira Flatow, host of NPR's "Talk of the Nation Science Friday," about how the code was broken -- and a serious risk to users of the program used to crack the encryption.