Oliver Sacks: Hallucinations in Topanga: KPFK 12/5

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OLIVER SACKS talks about seeing things, hearing voices, and his own experiences getting stoned in Topanga in the sixties.  He’s the legendary neurologist and wonderful  New Yorker essayist whose books include the classics The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings.  His new book is Hallucinations — it’s eloquent, compassionate, and fascinating.  “Sacks deftly integrates literature, art, and medical history around his very human, often riveting, case histories“–Library Journal.

 Plus: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States – it’s a 10-part documentary, running now on Showtime Mondays at 8 – and it’s also a big book, co-authored by historian Peter Kuznick.  Analyzing the American empire especially after WWII, it’s provocative, massively documented, and a necessary antidote to the mainstream media’s celebration of American triumphalism—
–and the book is our featured thank-you gift in the KPFK fund drive.

Howard Zinn’s Life on the Left: KPFK 11/28

LISTEN online HERE — SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
HOWARD ZINN, who died in 2010, stood at t e center of key social movements of the 20th century, and wrote the best-selling left-wing American history book A People’s History of the US.  Historian MARTIN DUBERMAN talks about his achievement and his politcs – his new book is Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left.

Plus: MARK LeVINE on Gaza.  Mark teaches the history of the modern Middle East at UC Irvine and writes a column for Al Jazeera English; his most recent book is Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine since 1989.

Also:  Columbia Records has produced and released a lot of the key music of the 20th century – historian SEAN WILENTZ talks about the musicians, the producers, and the music.  Sean’s new book is 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story. 
PLAYLIST: Louis Armstrong Hot 5: “West End Blues” 1928; Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys: “Steel Guitar Rag”, 1935; Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child,” 1941; West Side Story, Rita Moreno, “America” – 1961.

The Trouble with Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ – The Nation 11/27

Daniel Day Lewis deserves the Oscar for best actor for his wonderful portrayal of Lincoln in the new Steven Spielberg movie. But while the acting is great, there’s a problem with the film: it is dedicated to the proposition that Lincoln freed the slaves. Historians say that’s not quite right. The end of slavery did not come because Lincoln and the House of Representatives voted for the Thirteenth Amendment. . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Oliver Stone, Eric Foner: KPFK 11/21

 LISTEN online HERE — SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
OLIVER STONE talks about his “Untold History of the United States,” a 10-part documentary series on Showtime, Mondays at 9 (and other times) – this coming Monday is episode 3 on The Bomb–video preview HERE.   Companion volume, co-authored by Peter Kuznick: info HERE.   More info at The Nation, HERE.

Plus: HAROLD MEYERSON on Washington politics—and that fiscal cliff we hear so much about.  Harold writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and is editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Also: ERIC FONER comments on “Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg’s highly-praised film about passage of the 13th Amendment banning slavery.  Spielberg’s point: Lincoln freed the slaves.  Eric says that’s not quite right—first we had the abolitionists; and then during the Civil War the slaves did a lot to free themselves.  Eric’s book The Fiery Trial won the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize; it’s out now in paperback.

Oliver Stone’s ‘Untold History’: The Nation 11/12

If you thought Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States—a ten-part documentary series premiering November 12 on Showtime—would offer a series of conspiracy theories concerning the American past, you would be wrong. Despite Stone’s 1991 film JFK, there’s no JFK assassination conspiracy here—just a statement that the public found “unconvincing” the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. There’s no 9/11 conspiracy, and no allegations that Franklin Roosevelt schemed in secret to get the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor as a backdoor way to force the United States into World War II.  The series’ massive, 750-page companion volume, co-written with historian Peter Kuznick, also shuns conspiracy theories. . . .
. . . continued at The Nation HERE

An Appeal to the GOP: TheNation, 11/10

An appeal to Republicans: don’t listen to the pundits who say the lesson of 2012 is that you should change course to appeal to women and minorities in order to win elections. You should stick to your principles—and with the the old white men who provided tens of millions of votes on Election Day.. . . .”
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE.

 

The Bad News About White People: The Nation 11/7

If  only white people had voted on Tuesday, Mitt Romney would have carried every state except for Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut and New Hampshire, according to the news media’s exit polls. Nationally, Romney won 59 percent of the white vote, a towering twenty-point margin over Obama.
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE

It Wasn’t Even Close: KPFK 11/7

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“It wasn’t even close,” says JOHN NICHOLS at TheNation.com.  John will talk about Obama’s two-million vote margin.  John was MSNBC’s man in Ohio last night, reporting for Rachel Maddow & Co. from the Teamsters’ Hall in Toledo.

Also: TOM FRANK will talk about what Obama will do with his win: pursue “the grand bargain” and make a deal with Republicans to cut the budget.  Tom’s new book, Pity the Billionaire, is out now in paperback.

And HAROLD MEYERSON will look at the Senate races, where Democrats triumphed across the board — and billionaires failed to put their candidates in office.  Harold writes about politics for the Washington Post op-ed page and The American Prospect, where he is editor-at-large.