Roundup

'Federal Register' Marks 70th Anniversary [4min]

When the federal government lost a lawsuit because it couldn't find a law on the books, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis took action. The Federal Register was born, 70 years ago this month. Register director Ray Mosley chats with Debbie Elliott.

The Royal Society -- The First Club for Experimental Science [45min]

The natural philosopher Francis Bacon heralded the new age of science. The frontispiece to his 1620 edition of the Instauratio Magna depicted a galleon travelling between the metaphorical pillars of Hercules thought to lie at the Strait of Gibraltar and believed to mark the end of the known world. The image encapsulated Bacon's desire to sail beyond the limits set by Aristotle and the curriculum of the Ancient universities towards the new continent of science. Bacon imagined practical sci

Radical Islam Is the New Totalitarianism [4min]

The third anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq has focused attention on postwar planning, the withdrawal of U.S. troops, and the possibilities of civil war. Commentator Joe Loconte says these issues shouldn't distract our attention from the horrifying vision of radical Islam.

Kevin Phillips: 'American Theocracy' [51min]

In American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century, former Republican strategist Kevin Phillips writes about the intersection of religion, oil, politics and money and what it means for the future of the country. Phillips is author of American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush (Viking) and Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich (Broadway).

The New Enlightenment [30min]

The role of religion in society has emerged as one of the key political issues of the beginning of the 21st century. From Islamist terror attacks to religious hatred laws in the UK, from the increased visibility of the Christian right in the US to the riots in Paris this summer, the question of the changing relationship between the secular state and faith has become central to political debate. Laurie Taylor is joined by Stephen Bronner, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University, and Jo

POWs of WWII Japan [30min]

Andy Coogan was a Japanese POW for over three years, and Harry Duffus was an officer in the Canadian centre that received the men who survived the camps. Moving stories of fortitude, brutality and towering humanity. Billy Kay traces the often surprising roots and history of Scotland's local communities.

Knights Templar Inspires Trio of Best-Selling Books [4min]

The Knights Templar, a Crusades-era group of Christian monks turned soldiers, have inspired a trio of current best-selling books -- The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury, The Templar Legacy by Steve Barry and the ubiquitous best-seller The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Alex Chadwick discusses the literary fascination with the Knights Templar with Laura Miller, book critic for Salon.com.

Georgia Eyes High-School Bible-History Classes [4min]

Georgia lawmakers are expected to pass a bill authorizing a Bible literacy class in public high schools. The class, "History and Literature of the Old and New Testament," will be taught with the Bible as the text. The bill does not require that schools teach the course, or that students take it. Emily Kopp of Georgia Public Broadcasting reports.

Roller Derby Queen was Best Bad Girl in Sports [4min]

Commentator Frank Deford remembers one of his favorite athletes: roller derby legend Ann Calvello. Calvello was known as the bad girl of the roller derby circuit. She died last week of cancer.

Historic Recordings Tell Clawhammer Banjo History [9min]

Forty years ago, a young man named Charles Faurot traveled from New York City to southwestern Virginia looking for older traditional banjo players to record for a tiny country-music record label. He found them and eventually produced three LPs of raw, intense mountain music. The records became the subjects of near cult-like devotion among a generation of younger players from around the world. One of them was NPR newscaster and reporter Paul Brown. The records are back out, on CD, with additional

A Short History of Presidential Censure [11min]

A look at the political history of efforts to censure the president. Guest: H.W. Brands, Dickson Allen Anderson Centennial professor of history at the University of Texas.

Exploring Broadway's Early Irish Period [21min]

Singer, musician and folklorist Mick Moloney's new album, McNally's Row of Flats, centers on theater songs by an Irish songwriting team from the late 1800s. In those days, Vaudeville and minstrelsy were giving way to American Musical Theater in New York City. The Irish team consisted of actor and writer Ed Harrigan and musician David Braham, both acclaimed performers of the early Great White Way. The songs on Moloney's CD range from"Dad's Dinner Pail" to"I Never Drink Behind the Bar." It

A Political Warning Shot: 'American Theocracy' [21min]

Kevin Phillips rose to prominence on the heels of Richard Nixon's political triumphs. His 1969 book The Emerging Republican Majority was hailed as a visionary work of political analysis. But his new book, American Theocracy, argues that the Republican Party -- and the country -- is headed for disaster. Subtitled"The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century," American Theocracy puts the trials of modern America into the context of other gre

History of American Vaudeville 3rd of 3 [30min]

A look at how some of the finest vaudeville theatres reinvented themselves in order to survive after vaudeville itself withered and died in the 1930s. The Boston Opera House, the Orpheum in Memphis, and the Pantages in Minneapolis are now flourishing theatrical and musical venues, but it took millions of dollars of investment and many long years of painstaking restoration and rebuilding, as well as a change of attitude towards the preservation of the past. Geoffrey Wheeler's series about the his

Consensus Politics in the UK, Then & Now [30min]

Jonathan Freedland sets out for the political centre ground, comparing past and present and looking back to the post-war consensus. Back in the early 50s they called the politics of the centre ground ‘Butskellism’ as the policies of the Conservatives' Rab Butler and Labour’s Hugh Gaitskell seemed to move closer and closer together. Today it’s been described by some commentators as ‘Blameron’ -- a new form of centre ground politics, merging the policies of Tony Blair and David Cameron. Jonathan a

Vivaldi's Women [12min]

One of the great musical partnerships of all time was also one of the most surprising: that between a charitable institution in Venice which took in unwanted girl babies -- even branding them with its own mark -- and one of the world's best-known composers, Antonio Vivaldi. The institution had its own all-female orchestra and choir, and Vivaldi became their musical director. The impact on his composition was remarkable and the names of individual women for whom he wrote have been unearthed from

Married to a Dictator [10min]

On Saturday, Slobodan Milosevic, one of the 20th century’s most notorious dictators was buried. His political rise, and fall some would say, had been fuelled by the aspirations and connections of his wife Mira Markovic. But was she just one of many dictators’ wives who wielded such influence from behind? Woman’s Hour investigates what lies behind the myths and realities of some of history’s most influential political wives. Jenni speaks to the journalist and war reporter, Janine Di Giovanni and

School of Illumination [45min]

Writer and singer Shusha Guppy tells the fascinating story of how Islamic philosophers brought the treasures of classical Greek thought to the West. By the 9th Century, the works of philosophers like Plato and Aristotle had largely been lost in the Latin West. In the Islamic East it was a very different story. For centuries they had been translating these and other Greek philosophical school works, harvesting the knowledge they contained and in turn, writing their own commentaries. As the Islami

Travel in the Footsteps of Captain Bligh, Rebecca West & 'The Italian Job' [18min @9:00]

Many travellers choose to follow in the footsteps of someone who has made the journey previously; Sandi Toksvig hears of three very different approaches to this method of travel. In 1989 Jasper Shackleton set off to journey in an open boat halfway across the Pacific to follow the route of Captain Bligh cast adrift by the Bounty mutineers. Author Tony White has been re-treading the path of Rebecca West's travels in the Balkans on the eve of the Second World War and writer Mark Mason went to Turin

1916: The Rising Revisited [11min]

Reconstruction of contributions by Mayo MP John Dillon (Bryan Dobson), Prime Minister Herbert Asquith (Michael Lewis) & Laurence Ginnell (Micheál Lehane) to a Commons debate in the immediate aftermath of the Rising.