Living in the USA

for the record: my show on KPFK Wed 6/7 is cancelled — on vacation!

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The anti-war movement in WWI in Britain took a heroic stand against senseless slaughter: ADAM HOCHSCHILD tells that story in his magnificent new book To End All Wars — it was featured on page 1 of the New York Times Book Review. I’ll be in conversation with Adam at the downtown LA public library ALOUD series on Thurs June 2 at 7pm – free but reservations suggested, HERE.

Plus: The Korean War — BRUCE CUMINGS reveals the historical background that explains why it happened, and the extraordinarily vicious methods by which the U.S. fought it.  His new book is The Korean War: A History.

Also: Nixon and Watergate, then and now: historian STANLEY KUTLER sued the feds to force the release of the Nixon White House tapes — and won.  (He also writes for the Huffington Post.)  Now the full story is told for the first time at the Nixon Library in their new Watergate exhibit.  Stan will be speaking at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda Wed. 6/1 at 7pm on “Liberating the Watergate Tapes.”  Reservations recommended: Email nixon@nara.gov or call 714-983-9120.

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It’s Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday!  I’ll be co-hosting a two-hour special, at a special time: Tues 11am-1pm, featuring Sean Wilentz, author of Dylan in America; Bob Dylan rarities — interviews on WBAI in NYC from the early sixties; highlights of ten years of my interviews about Dylan on KPFK with Greil Marcus, Sean Wilentz, and others;  highlights from “No Direction Home”, Martin Scorsese’s documentary on Dylan from his arrival in New York in 1961 to his “retirement” following his motorcycle accident in 1966.

It’s the KPFK Fund Drive, and our featured premium is the 2 DVD set of “No Direction Home” for a pledge of $100.00. Other premiums: Dylan Live at Brandeis 1963 CD $50.00; eight of my own interviews about Dylan on KPFK, 2001-2011, including: Greil Marcus on “Love and Theft” (2001), Greil on “Like a Rolling Stone” (2009), Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s Xmas album (2001), Sean on Dylan in China (2011), and lots more.  Available for a $50 pledge, or a free add-on to any pledge $100 or more.  Call and pledge during the show, 818-985-5735, or online at www.kpfk.org. Co-hosted by Alan Minsky and Maggie LePique.

A short history of an American tradition: Socialism.  JOHN NICHOLS, the Wisconsin hero who writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com, offers an unapologetic retort to the return of red-baiting in American political life in his new book “The ‘S’ Word.”
It is our featured thank-you gift in the KPFK fund drive for the 4 O’Clock Report on Wednesday.  Please call during the show and pledge: 818-985-5735 — or pledge online at www.kpfk.org.

For the record: KPFK on Wed 5/11 & 5/4 is pre-empting my show for special fund drive programming. Please pledge — call 818-985-5735, or online at kpfk.org.

Did the Republicans commit suicide with the budget they passed in the House last week?  ARI BERMAN of The Nation says Obama is clearly winning the debate on the debt and the deficit – but ignoring the problems of job creation … and the Afghan war.

Also: An insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing healthcare and deceiving Americans: WENDELL POTTER walked away from a lucrative career to fight an industry that puts profits ahead of patient care.  His book is Deadly Spin.

Plus: Cold War Hollywood – film critic J. HOBERMAN talks about the 1950s, when the film industry purged the left and gave filmgoers a pageant of John Wayne cavalry Westerns, apocalyptic sci-fi flicks, and biblical spectaculars.  His new book is An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War. “Cultural history doesn’t get any better—or scarier—than this.”—Mike Davis.

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Did Bob Dylan sell out when he sang in Beijing and Saigon this week?  Maureen Dowd says yes — what Bob did is “worse than Beyonce singing for Qaddafi.”  But SEAN WILENTZ says it’s not true — Bob did not bow to government demands that he not sing what Dowd calls “iconic songs of revolution like “The Times They Are a-Changin,’ ” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.””  Sean teaches history at Princeton; his new book is BOB DYLAN IN AMERICA, and he wrote a reply to Maureen Dowd at The New Yorker website.  We’ll listen to some of the songs Bob sang in Saigon and Beijing.   PLAYLIST: “Ballad of a Thin Man,” “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Highway 61 Revisited.”

ALSO:  Japanese officials now admit the radiation release from Fukushima is as bad as Chernobyl.  DAN HIRSCH will explain — he teaches at UC Santa Cruz and heads Committee to Bridge the Gap.

Plus:  In Obama’s deficit speech today he contrasted his vision of “the kind of future we want” with the Republicans’.  We’ll have commentary from HAROLD MEYERSON, he’s editor at large of The American Prospect and he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page.

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HAROLD MEYERSON of The American Prospect says the labor movement in L.A. is the great exception nationally – instead of fighting defensive battles, they are winning new jobs at decent wages—mostly, union jobs in government construction projects.  Harold wrote about L.A. labor for the L.A. Times op-ed page.

Plus: Women of Wal-Mart, Unite!  NELSON LICHTENSTEIN reports on the class-action suit of women workers at Wal-Mart – which would be the largest in the history of the world.  Nelson teaches labor history at UC Santa Barbara and is the author of The Retail Revolution, a history of Wal-Mart.

Also: Men, Women and Unions: Why cops and firemen change the picket line equation.  NATASHA VARGAS-COOPER worked as an SEIU organizer for five years; now she’s covering the Wisconsin story – and writing about it for The Atlantic the New York Times op-ed page.