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HAROLD MEYERSON says American workers face a “God-awful” future — “Millions have lost their jobs. Millions have had their lives put on hold or thrown into reverse.”   It’s time for a massive public works program — but is Obama’s big enough?  Harold is a columnist for the L.A. Times and the Washington Post and editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Plus: AMY WILENTZ reports on her return to Haiti last month — as the country prepares for an election, to be held ten months after the earthquake.   Amy wrote about her trip for The New Yorker: “Running in the Ruins.” Her book The Rainy Season: Haiti Then and Now, is out now in a new paperback edition.

Also: KATHA POLLITT has just returned from a year in Berlin; she says “IT’S BETTER OVER THERE.” Germany doesn’t have the kind of destitution we take for granted in the United States, especially for African-Americans. The strong German safety net keeps people from plunging into the abyss.  Katha is a poet, essayist and columnist for The Nation; she has been named the recipient of the American Book Award’s prestigious “Lifetime Achievement” prize for 2010.

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New Orleans now, five years after Katrina: we’ll speak with poet, novelist and essayist  ANDREI CODRESCU about what has changed there, and what hasn’t.  Andrei edits Exquisite Corpse: A Journal of Letters and Life; he wrote the memorable New Orleans Mon Amour;  his new book is The Poetry Lesson.

Also we’ll speak with historian MICHAEL BELLESILES about the violent and ugly America of 1877.  His new book is 1877: America’s Year of Living Violently. Michael teaches history at Central Connecticut State University.

Also: China just passed Japan as the number two economic power in the world – and yet China is still ruled by a Communist Party. Historian JEFF WASSERSTROM will explain some of the paradoxes here – Jeff writes for Foreign Policy the Christian Science Monitor, and the Huffington Post, and is chair of the history department at UC Irvine. He is co-founder of the blog ChinaBeat.org, and his new book is CHINA IN THE 21^ST CENTURY: WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW.

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Primaries in Florida and Arizona Tuesday tested the Tea Party’s strength among Republicans and the power of a billionaire to win a Senate Democratic nomination.  JOHN NICHOLS reviews the results – his new post at TheNation.com is “Sex, Drugs and Bill Clinton.”

Also: the “Ground Zero Mosque” in lower Manhattan — should it find another site, out of “respect for the 9-11 families,” and the ADL argues?  STEPHEN ROHDE explains why “It is wise, it is right, it is good for that mosque and community center to be built in that place.”  Stephen is co-president of Progressive Jewish Alliance and chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace.

Plus: “Mad Men” is the best series on TV right now – NATASHA VARGAS-COOPER talks about sex, literature, politics, and of course advertising on the show – and how it portrays the “cultural matrix” of the early sixties.  The New Yorker called her MAD MEN UNBUTTONED “the richest of the “Mad Men” books.”

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From the Pentagon Papers to WikiLeaks: DANIEL ELLSBERG talks about secrets, lies, and war — from Vietnam to Afghanstan.  We will be featuring the documentary about Daniel Ellsberg, “The Most Dangerous Man in America”, on DVD as our fund drive thank-you gift this hour.  The film was nominated for the Oscar for best documentary.  The Washington Post called it “an exemplary piece of nonfiction filmmaking,”  “a wily caper flick that just happens to revolve around one of the most crucial chapters in recent American history.”

Also:  TOM FRANK just finished a two-year term as the voice of left wing sanity at the crazed op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal – he was there in 2008 when “the market god collapsed” — And he was there when it was revived.  Tom’s books include What’s the Matter with Kansas? and The Wrecking Crew.  He starts a new column for Harper’s in December.

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Obama doesn’t have a jobs program.  California doesn’t have a jobs program.  But the city of L.A. DOES have a jobs program – the only one in the country.
HAROLD MEYERSON will explain – he’s an op-ed columnist for the L.A. Times and the Washington Post.

Plus: “METHLAND”: small town America has been crushed by union busting and agribusiness – and now an incredibly cheap, long-lasting, and highly effective drug has taken hold: NICK REDING tells the story of one town’s struggle with crystal meth.  His award-winning book Methland is out now in paperback.

Also: Obama abandoned his environmental and energy programs. But cities have taken the initiative towards green energy and green jobs — and L.A. is in the lead, on some fronts at least. 
JOAN FITZGERALD will explain. She’s Director of the Law, Policy and Society Program at Northeastern University, and her new book is Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development.

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Seven little words from MICHAEL POLLAN:  “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” His number one-bestseller, out now in paperback, is IN DEFENSE OF FOOD. Michael is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley.  (originally broadcast 2/13/2008.)

Also: HENRY FORD’s Amazon colony — historian GREG GRANDIN tells the story of Ford’s biggest failure.  His book Fordlandia is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 9/2/2008)

Plus: Politics and modern music: Hitler and Stalin went to the opera, and Joe McCarthy subpoenaed composers. What was going on?  ALEX ROSS explains — he’s music critic for The New Yorker, where’s he’s written not only about classical music but also about Bjork, Bob Dylan and Radiohead.  His award-winning book, out now in paperback, is THE REST IS NOISE: Listening to the 20th Century, and his famous website is www.TheRestIsNoise.com. (originally broadcast 5/14/2008)

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TERRY GROSS of NPR’s show “Fresh Air” is heard by more than 4 million listeners — in our interview she talks about what went wrong in her interviews with Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, and Bill O’Reilly. Also, she answers the question, “What is the deal with rumors that you are a lesbian?” Her book, All I Did was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians and Artists, is out  in paperback.  (originally broadcast 11/04)

Also –from the Center for the Study of the Lower East Side, our interview with the great RICHARD PRICE about his novel — out now in paperback — LUSH LIFE. (originally broadcast 3/09)

Plus: FRIEDRICH ENGELS – “a foxhunting man, a womanizing, champagne-drinking capitalist” – and a lifelong revolutionary. Also, “far more adventurous than Marx when it came to exploring the ramifications of his and Marx’s thinking.” TRISTRAM HUNT explains.  MARX’S GENERAL: THE REVOLUTIONARY LIFE OF FRIEDRICH ENGELS is his book, out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 9/09)

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America’s most powerful – and most secretive – intelligence service is the National Security Agency – they’re the people who monitor cell phones and computer networks around the globe and here at home.  MATTHEW AID has been researching the NSA for a long time – and now his book The Secret Sentry is out in paperback.  Also: READ James Bamford on the NSA HERE.

Also: Obama is having a bad summer – who do the Republicans have on deck to challenge him?  JOHN NICHOLS says it looks like SARAH PALIN is the best they’ve got–and, he says, the current primary season shows her to be smarter and more capable than we thought.  John is Washington correspondent for The Nation and writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Also: KPFK Sports!  The owners are ruining the games we love – that’s what DAVE ZIRIN says, starting with George Steinbrenner, who died recently.  The big question: Are the Frank and Jamie McCourt, owners of the Dodgers,  spending more money on their divorce lawyers than on their pitching staff? Dave writes about the politics of sports in his new book Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love.

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How Obama should engage the Muslim World: historian JUAN COLE says the Muslim world is not a bloc but rather is full of close allies or potential allies; Al-Qaeda is not a mass movement but rather a small political cult; US  “energy independence” is impossible — we will need Islamic oil for the rest of the 21st century.  Juan writes theblog “Informed Comment”; his book Engaging the Muslim World will be out in paperback in Sept.

Also: How a new form of slavery was imposed on hundreds of thousands of African-Americans after the Civil War: DOUGLAS BLACKMON found that tens of thousands of southern blacks were arrested, often for “vagrancy;” unable to pay their fines, they were sold as forced laborers to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries and farm plantations. His book Slavery by Another Name won 2009 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction; it’s out now in paperback.

Plus: Is Dick Cheney now the leader of the Republican Party? BART GELLMAN of the Washington Post talks about Cheney’s past — his hidden role in the Bush administration’s most fateful choices: shifting focus from al Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting “cruel and inhuman” methods of interrogation.  Bart Gellman’s book ANGLER, out now in paperback, won the L.A. Times Book Prize for Nonfiction for 2009.  Watch Bart Gellman on The Daily Show HERE.
show originally broadcast 5-6-09.