Roundup

Hotel Anthrax -- Fort Detrick [30min]

During the Cold War, Fort Detrick near Washington DC was home to America's top secret biological weapons research project. Allan Urry meets some of those who took part, and reveals the extraordinary lengths to which they went in order to conduct their experiments.

Nelson & Empire [15min]

The building of the British Empire could not have happened without ships to carry goods, slaves and adventurers and other ships to protect them. The British always had to cross seas and oceans to get to their possessions. Colonies were at least hundreds and usually thousands of miles from Britain. "This Sceptred Isle: Empire" is a narrative history of the British Empire from Ireland in the 12th century to the independence of India in the 20th, told in 90 programmes written by historian

PBS Documentary Traces Roots of Black Celebrities [7min]

A new PBS documentary series uses DNA to trace the roots of Oprah Winfrey, Chris Tucker and other prominent African Americans all the way from slave plantations to the shores of Africa. Ed Gordon talks with the host and producer of the series, renowned Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Black Author Examines 'Confederate Kinfolk' [6min]

Ed Gordon talks with author Thulani Davis about her new memoir My Confederate Kinfolk. The book traces Davis's family roots back to a Civil War-era union between a former slave and a white former slave owner.

Documenting the Stories of Bracero Guest Workers [7min]

As the Bush administration considers a new "guest worker" program for immigrants, there's a new drive to document some of the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of Mexicans who worked in the United States as part the now-defunct "bracero" guest worker program. The program began as a way to address World War II-era labor shortages, and ended in 1964. Now the Smithsonian Institution, with the help of university researchers, is recording the stories of these workers for a

Negro Leaguers Earn More Spots in Hall of Fame [5min]

Baseball takes another step in its recognition of the Negro Leagues' contributions to the sport when 39 candidates are voted on at the end of this month in a special election for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The 39 names on the ballot are the result of an investigation that began in July 2000. Major League Baseball provided a grant of $250,000 that helped more than 50 historians and scholars research the history of black baseball. They searched more than 150 newspapers and mile

Ready Steady Go! The Weekend Starts Here [60min]

Sandie Shaw, 1960s British girl singer, looks back at the show that changed the way music was presented on TV and was a mirror to the Swinging 60s. Listen to exclusive online interviews, tell us your memories of the show and read what others say.

The Tibetan Aristocracy [15min]

An astonishing night in the Himalaya Hotel in Tibet. A bizarre evening with the Tibetan aristocracy, rum and a lesson in how to execute Samba. 2nd of 5 key moments of the 20th Century, as recorded by journalist James Cameron in his memoir Point of Departure (Granta Books, Classics of Reportage Series).

The Trial of Warren Hastings [15min]

By 1781 governor-general of British India Warren Hastings had confirmed British authority in India. Yet he was ever under personal attack. Moreover, about to lose America, the government in London viewed India with the same importance as later administrations would see Europe in the 20th century -- India was a political battleground to be fought over in Westminster. "This Sceptred Isle: Empire" is a narrative history of the British Empire from Ireland in the 12th century to the indepen

The Morality of WWII Area Bombing [13min @0:56]

A C Grayling, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, joins a 45min roundtable discussion on faith and politics, the British tradition of horror in art, and Baby Boomers, to discuss whether the Allies committed a moral crime in their area bombing of German and Japanese cities in WWII, as treated in his new book Among the Dead Cities.."Start the Week" sets the cultural agenda every Monday. Guests are drawn from the top movers and shakers in politics, history, sci

The British Tradition of Horror in Art [9min @23:00]

Sir Christopher Frayling, consultant curator for the Tate Britain, joins a 45min roundtable discussion on the morality of WWII area bombing, faith and politics, and Baby Boomers, to discuss the Romantic imagination and the great British tradition of horror. Tate Britain's exhibition Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination, runs from 15 February to 1 May. "Start the Week" sets the cultural agenda every Monday. Guests are drawn from the top movers and shakers in pol

Baby Boomers [9min @32:21]

Joe Queenan, film critic and writer, joins a 45min roundtable discussion on the morality of WWII area bombing, faith and politics, and the British tradition of horror in art, to discuss his latest book, Balsamic Dreams, which is an attack on Baby Boomers -- who he argues are the most self-absorbed, avaricious and annoying generation -- and he should know, he is one himself."Start the Week" sets the cultural agenda every Monday. Guests are drawn from the top movers and shakers in politics,

Russia and Stalin on the Rise [10min]

Nina Khrushcheva, great granddaughter of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and professor of international affairs at the New School for Social Research in New York, discusses her great grandfather's secret speech made 50 years ago this month. Her op-ed,"Why Russia Still Loves Stalin," appears in Sunday's Washington Post.

A History of Church Arsons in the U.S. South [3min]

Debbie Elliott gets an update on the investigation into the string of church arson attacks in rural Alabama with Jim Cavanaugh, a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Alabama. Cavanaugh puts the latest crimes in the context of a history of church burnings in the South.

Paul Laurence Dunbar's Legacy of Language [8min]

Last week marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Paul Laurence Dunbar, who was the first African American poet to make his living from his writing. Dunbar was well known during his lifetime for the poetry he wrote in black dialect. But he came to despise the focus on those poems while his other work -- which included standard English poems, his essays and plays -- went almost ignored. As the son of two former slaves, Dunbar grew up hearing the manner of speech from which many African Ameri

The Education of Charles 67x [28min]

The political philosophy of Black Nationalism, which maintains that African Americans can govern themselves in their own nation, has deep roots in Chicago. Journalist Askia Muhammad returns to Chicago to explore his grounding in Black Nationalism. As editor of the Nation of Islam's newspaper 20 years ago, he learned a great deal about Black Nationalism at Elijah Muhammad's dinner table in Hyde Park.

The Atom Bomb Test at Bikini Atoll [15min]

Key moments of the 20th Century, as recorded by journalist James Cameron in his memoir Point of Departure (Granta Books, Classics of Reportage Series). 1st of 5: The extraordinary spectacle of the Atom bomb test at Bikini Atoll. Read by Nigel Cooke and abridged by Polly Coles.

Warren Hastings [15min]

Warren Hastings laid the foundations of the British Raj. Yet this first governor general of Bengal who saved India for the British was later vilified by his own people. Hastings started as a writer [clerk] with the East India Company in 1750, as Clive had done six years earlier. By the time Hastings was establishing himself in Bengal, the East India Company was abandoning its policy of not interfering in India's politics and wars. After Clive's victory at Plassey in 1757, commerce and warfare we

Civil War Stories: Doris Kearns Goodwin, E.L. Doctorow, Tim Tyson [60min]

John Brown was a terrorist, a man who led a raid in Kansas that butchered five unarmed men. He was also, arguably, of the few white people in 1850s America who was totally color blind. According to a new book he was"the man who killed slavery and sparked the Civil War." So, was John Brown a"good terrorist"? In this hour of"To the Best of Our Knowledge" we'll consider the legacy of this most complicated historical figure. 1) Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize winning historian and the author of

Voices in the News [2min]

A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including President Bush; Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Annie Hodges Gunner, secretary of Dancy First Baptist Church; Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN); Michael Brown, former FEMA director; King Abdullah of Jordan; rioters in the streets of Afghanistan; U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Mandy Hinzmann, U.S. pairs figure skater.