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THE SECRET HISTORY OF DISCO: Peter Shapiro talks about how disco brought a polysexual, polyracial, polymorphous celebration — to a space beyond the reach of church, state and family; how it became a worldwide phenomenon; and how it ended in a homophobic, racist backlash. His book is Turn the Beat Around.  PLAYLIST: Bee Gees, “Stayin’ Alive” 1977 #1; Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive” 1979 #1; Sister Sledge, “We Are Family” 1979 #2; Chic, “Good Times” 1979 #1.

also: JOHN NICHOLS on the presidential race, and on Massachusetts, where Democrat Elizabeth Warren is ahead, and Wisconsin, where Democrat Tammy Baldwin is ahead.  John is Washington correspondent for The Nation and a frequent guest on The Ed Show on MSNBC.

Plus: TOM FRANK says there is one grand political issue that defines our time – in the words of Elizabeth Warren, “the system is rigged.”  Tom writes a column for Harper’s–this month he writes about Paul Ryan as a fan of Rage Against the Machine.  Tom’s new book Pity the Billionaire is out now in paperback.

George McGovern died today; his 1972 campaign changed many lives, including John Lennon’s.  Lennon had moved to New York City in 1971, and it was his support for McGovern—who died Oct. 21 at age 90—that led the Nixon administration to try to deport the ex-Beatle. The story begins with Jerry Rubin. . .
…continued at TheNation.com HERE

Gore Vidal, who died in July, was one of our greatest novelists and essayists – and yet he never went to college. In a 2007 interview I asked him why not.

“I graduated from [Phillips] Exeter,” he explained, “and I was aimed at going to Harvard. Instead I enlisted in [the Navy] in 1943. When I got out, in ’46, I thought, ‘I’ve spent all my life in institutions that I loathe, including my service in the [Navy] of the United States.’ I thought, ‘Shall I go for another four years?’ . . . … continued at Inside Higher Ed., HERE.

Jeff Glor:  What inspired you to write the book?
Jon Wiener:  I took the tour of the Nevada Test Site and wrote about it for the “Politics of Travel” issue of The Nation magazine. . . .
. . . continued at CBSnews.com HERE

Conversation with Amy Wilentz, author of Farewell Fred Vodoo: A Letter from Haiti.
L.A. Public Library ALOUD series, Downtown library, 630 West Fifth St., Los Angeles, CA 90071.  Jan. 15, 2013, 7:00pm.
http://www.lfla.org/event-detail/800/Amy-Wilentz

“How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America”  conversation on The Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC – 93.9FM, a,820 in New York City — also on Sirius/XM satellite radio.  Dec. 11, 12:40-1:00pm in NYC.  streaming audio & podcast:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2012/dec/11/forgetting-cold-war/

“How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America.”  Talk, with comment by Robin Kelley.
UCLA Department of History, Bunche Hall 6th floor conference room. Monday Dec. 3, 3-5pm.  Sponsored by the Center for Social Theory and Comparative History;  Co-sponsored with US History Colloquium.

“How We Forgot the Cold War”:  Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.
The Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Road,  San Marino, CA
Fri. Nov. 30, 12 noon, Seaver Classroom 3.

“How We Forgot the Cold War.”
PEN Center USA “Go West” Reading Series.
Autry National Center
4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027Nov. 17, 2012, 2:00p0m.
http://www.penusa.org/go-west-reading-series-fall-events

Q&A with Oliver Stone, author of The Untold History of the United States.
Book Soup, 8818 West Sunset Boulevard  Los Angeles, CA 90069
Nov. 2, 2012, 7:00pm.