Roundup

40 Years Later, Stonewall Riots Remembered [podcast 4 min 44 sec]

Forty years ago, gay street youth started a riot at a bar in New York City that would forever change the struggle for gay rights in America.

Anti-Americanism vs. American Ignorance [video 1 hr 17 min 17 sec]

From the early 19th century onwards, American politicians and the American people have frequently been seen as culturally and intellectually inferior by outsiders. Should these claims be seen as anti-American stereotypes and prejudices or is there reasonable evidence to support such conclusions? Brendon O'Connor, Associate Professor in American Politics at the University of Sydney, explores the historical origins of a set of powerful tropes and stereotypes that emerged describing th

The Gay Rights Movement Since Stonewall [video 1 hr 21 min]

This panel offers a rare look at the defining moments of the gay rights movement as seen through the eyes of journalists, historians, and media advocates. Panelists discuss these pivotal events; the role the media played in generating visibility for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people; and what the media accounts got right and wrong.

Is Iran's Crackdown The End Of The Revolution? [podcast 5 min 52 sec]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Sunday on the United States and Britain to stop interfering with his country's internal affairs. His statement came the day after at least 10 people were killed and others injured in Tehran as police forces cracked down on protesters. Demonstrators have been taking to the streets all week to oppose Ahmadinejad's recent re-election. Guest host Alison Stewart discusses developments in Iran with Gary Sick, a senior research scholar at Columb

Women Warriors: From Joan of Arc to GI Jane [podcast 28 min 26 sec]

This segment from What's the Word?, from the Modern Language Association (MLA) and produced by Sally Placksin, examines Women Warriors from Joan of Arc to GI Jane. As described by the MLA: "From the Greek goddess Athena to the classic comic book character Zena and from Joan of Arc to GI Jane, history, mythology, and contemporary literature and film offer many images of women warriors. Susan Crane takes us back to the Middle Ages with a look at Joan of Arc and the transcripts of her trial f

Sotomayor Shaped By Her 'Nuyorican' Roots [podcast 5 min 39 sec]

Sonia Sotomayor has called the stretch of Southern Boulevard in New York City's South Bronx the center of her childhood universe. She came here to eat Puerto Rican snow cones and see Spanish movies. She and her cousins sat at the window in her grandmother's apartment and made faces at the passengers on the elevated No. 5 train. Sotomayor has said she never thought of herself as a minority back then because most of the neighborhood was Hispanic. She has called herself "Nuyorican

Controversy Over Vote Continues In Iran [podcast 1 min 42 sec]

Violence and controversy continue to ripple through Iran in the wake of the disputed presidential election. On Sunday, runner-up Mir Hossein Mousavi lodged a complaint with Iran's top court, asking that the results be overturned. Elsewhere, a victory rally for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmandinejad drew tens of thousands, and at a news conference, the incumbent president defended the vote. Guest host Guy Raz rounds up the latest from Tehran and from Washington, D.C.,

Conversation: Historian Simon Schama [video 9 min 44 sec]

Historian Simon Schama is well-known for his books and television documentaries on art and a wide range of other subjects. A native of England, he's lived and taught in the United States for several decades, currently at Columbia University in New York. And it is this country -- our recent election woven into moments from the past and possible future -- that is the subject of his new book. It's called "The American Future: A History."

Remembering Anne Frank [video 22 min 47 sec]

Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss talks about her experiences of the Holocaust and her relationship with Anne Frank.

FDL Book Salon: Idiot America with Charles Pierce [video 5 min 36 sec]

Nearly every day for the past four years, those lyrics have resonated in my head when I've scanned the daily headlines or watched the news. America’s cranks, once relegated to park benches and late night public access programming, have hijacked the public discourse, from the junkie bobbleheads on the Sunday talk shows who greedily mainline false equivalencies to the power-hungry politicians who play Calvinball with our constitutionally-protected rights. Two hundred years ago (give

Obama in France to Honor D-Day Fallen [podcast 3 min 10 sec]

This is the 65th anniversary of the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy, which ultimately led to the liberation of Europe during World War II. President Obama is in France and will take part in ceremonies marking D-Day. With row after row of white crosses and stars of David, the American Cemetery at Normandy sits atop a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach. In June of 1944, Nazi bunkers, mines, machine guns and heavy artillery defended the French coastline. Soldiers in landing craft

If no for D-Day, It Would Have Been Doomsday [podcast 3 min 17 sec]

President Obama reminds us today that when U.S., British and Canadian forces trudged into bullets and mortar shells on the beaches of Normandy 65 years ago, their success was not assured. We've seen the movie and know the ending: John Wayne and Tom Hanks won the war, along with our plucky allies, David Niven and Michael Caine. Several years ago, we asked John Keegan, the British military historian, what he thought might have happened if the D-Day invasion had failed. &q

At Buchenwald, Obama Blasts Holocaust Deniers [podcast 4 min 4 sec]

President Obama was in Germany Friday where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, before visiting the site of Buchenwald, the Nazi concentration camp. Later, Obama met with injured American soldiers evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan at a U.S. military hospital in western Germany. President Obama is using his trip to Germany and the Middle East to push for help in resettling Guantanamo Bay detainees, discussing the issue with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a private meeting Fri

Segments 1 and 3: "John Hope Franklin on Writing Black History." (1969) [two podcasts 28 min 28 sec and 19 min 13 sec]

John Hope Franklin, then chair of the University of Chicago History Department, delivered this speech titled "The Future of Negro American History," at The New School in New York City on April 3, 1969. It was recorded by Pacifica Radio affiliate WBAI and first aired on October 18, 1969. In memory of Prof. Franklin, who died of congestive heart failure on March 25th, 2009, we are re-airing this important address by him. Franklin played a seminal role in helping incorporate African Ameri

Ferguson: An Evolutionary Approach to Financial History [video 49 minutes 57 seconds]

Professor Niall Ferguson offers an evolutionary approach to financial history. He questions the impeding of 'natural selection' by keeping the financial dinosaurs alive through the life support of monetary injections: "without creative destruction, our economic system cannot be a healthy one." The view that financial history could be 'evolutionary' in fact pre-dates Darwin, born 200 years ago this year, but the view has been pushed into the hinterlands of contemporary thin

Independence Daze: A History of July Fourth [podcast 53 min]

In the early days of our nation, July Fourth wasn’t an official holiday at all. In fact, it wasn’t until 1938 that it became a paid day-off. So how did the Fourth become the holiest day on our secular calendar? Historian Pauline Maier offers some answers, and explains how radically the meaning of the Declaration has changed since 1776. James Heintze chronicles early Independence Day Bacchanalia. And historian David Blight reflects on Frederick Douglass’ arresting 1852 Independence Day speech.

Tiananmen: Shouts That Turned To Silence [podcast 5 min 27 sec]

Two decades ago, the world watched as thousands of Chinese students and their supporters occupied Tiananmen Square for weeks demanding democracy — and then were violently removed on June 4, 1989, by the Chinese military. NPR's western bureau chief, Alisa Joyce Barba, was a TV producer in Beijing at that time.

Kansas Abortion Doctor Shot And Killed In Church [podcast 2 min 55 sec)

George Tiller, the prominent and polarizing abortion provider, was killed Sunday, gunned down during morning services at his church in Wichita, Kan. Tiller ran one of the few clinics in the country that performs late-term abortions, and for decades, he was a key figure in the battle over abortion in Kansas and on the national stage. Tiller's clinic in Wichita was bombed in 1986, and in the early '90s, he was shot in both arms. Just a few months ago, he was acquitted in

The Unabomber's Brother Tells His Story [podcast 7 min 27 sec]

From 1978 to 1995, Theodore Kaczynski mailed 16 bombs that killed three people and injured 23. He was identified and arrested largely because his brother had begun to suspect that he was the Unabomber and contacted authorities. For the first time, David Kaczynski has written about his relationship with the brother he grew up with and admired. Kaczynski talks with host Scott Simon about his essay, which appears in a new collection called Brothers: 26 Stories of Love and

Ted Sorensen on JFK, Obama, and a Life in Politics [video 43 min 32 sec]

Ted Sorensen served as chief counsel, advisor and speech writer for JFK and campaigned vigorously for Barack Obama in 2008. At this Hudson Union Society event, Sorensen discusses his life in American politics. This video consists of 9 chapters and five questions: 01. Introduction 02. First Time Meeting John Kennedy 03. Kennedy's Timeless Qualities 04. Kennedy's Legendary Inaugural Address 05. 'Ask Not What Your Country can do for