Books

May 20, 2013

Audio for this segment will be available by the end of the day Monday.

Web Extra: Our conversation with Mario Livio about his book "Is God A Mathematician?"

May 13, 2013

Jeanine Cummins reads an excerpt from The Crooked Branch.mp3

During the Civil War, more than 200,000 black men enlisted in the Union Army or Navy. African American Faces of the Civil War explores the war through the images of men of color. The book’s author, Ronald S. Coddington, is our guest. He writes “Faces of War,” a column for the Civil War News and contributes to The New York Times online. Watch for images from the book on the Dan Rodricks Facebook page in the days leading up to the show.

Journalist and documentary filmmaker Raquel Cepeda, born in Harlem to Dominican parents, talks about her journey of self-discovery, and coming to terms with her ethnic identity and ancestry. Cepeda is author of Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina.

May 7, 2013

About a dozen miles north of Frederick, before you get to Thurmont, you’ll see some plain stone and log homes. They look old. They are old. They're part of what’s left of the village that used to surround an active iron furnace, the Catoctin Furnace.  

Web Extra: On the search for the ancestors of a forgotten cemetary

Web Extra: On preserving Catoctin village

May 7, 2013

Web Extra: Catholicism in the Catonsville 9

Web Extra: Shawn Peters talks about Mary Moylan

Web Extra: Where the surviving members are now

How did researchers at the Johns Hopkins University and the Kennedy Krieger Institute come to be accused of conducting human experiments on African-American toddlers at risk of lead poisoning? The class action lawsuit against Hopkins is the focus of a new book about the relationship between science and industry, research ethics and patient rights. Our guests are Gerald Markowitz, history professor at John Jay College and the City University of New York, and David Rosner, public health and history professor at Columbia.

We all know that in case of an emergency, call 9-1-1. For information, press 4-1-1. But last year, more than 96,000 Maryland residents dialed 2-1-1. Sandy Monck, chief impact officer at United Way of Central Maryland tells us how UWCM's 2-1-1 Maryland is assisting residents in need.

April 30, 2013

This conversation originally aired on January 11, 2011.

Between the first World War and the 1970s, almost 6 million African Americans left the south for the cities of the north, midwest, and west in what is known as the Great Migration.  It forever changed the social, political, and economic landscape of the United States. 

In a new memoir, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams writes that ordinary people are capable of achieving extraordinary things. She joins us to share how she went from a small-town girl with working-class roots to an internationally recognized human rights advocate known for her work banning landmines. Her book is, My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Price Prize.