Books

Karen Avrich tells about the life of activist and feminist Emma Goldman and her lover, Alexander Berkman, the anarchist Sasha said to have carried out the first terrorist act in the U.S. when he tried to assassinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick in 1892. Avrich finished Sasha and Emma, the book her late father, scholar Paul Avrich, started. She joins us in advance of her evening appearance at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore to talk about the American anarchist-communist movement and two of its most prominent figures.

Baltimore is continuing its drive to end chronic homelessness with a new initiative aimed at finding permanent homes for the city's 75 most vulnerable homeless people. We talk about it with Olivia Farrow, director of the Mayor's Office of Human Services and Gabby Knighton, outreach coordinator in the city's Homeless Services Program.

Another in our series of discussions about the Newtown massacre, the focus this time on the massive number of firearms in the United States -- and how we reconcile the Second Amendment right to bear arms with the right to be safe from gun violence. A conversation with former New York Times correspondent and editor Craig E. Whitney, author of "Living With Guns: A Liberal's Case for the Second Amendment."

From delivering ultimatums to shopping with brand loyalty, a conversation about the many irrational ways we try to rationalize our decisions -- with journalist, blogger and psychology nerd David McRaney, author of  You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself.

Dan Fesperman joins me in the studio. He’s a former journalist and an award-winning author who lives in Baltimore. After serving as a foreign correspondent and reporter for The Baltimore Sun for many years, he now writes espionage thrillers.

Ty Burr, film critic for The Boston Globe and author of "Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame," explores the evolution of celebrity with Midday on Film contributors Linda DeLibero, associate director of film studies at The Johns Hopkins University, and filmmaker Christopher Llewellyn Reed, chair and associate professor of the Department of Film and Video at Stevenson University.

Just in time for the new year and New Year's resolutions, author Jeremy Dean discusses his book "Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don't, and How To Make Change Stick."

This segment originally aired on May 8, 2012.

This segment originally aired on May 9, 2011.

This segment originally aired on June 6, 2012.