Money, Politics & Democracy
Former New York State Attorney General and Governor Eliot Spitzer, aka “Sheriff of Wall Street,” is a long-time critic of financial malfeasance, having prosecuted abuses among major Wall Street firms as well as numerous other industries. Spitzer addresses the corrosive effect money has on American politics and the evolving role of Jews in politics from outsiders to the ultimate insiders.

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Gillian Flynn’s latest novel Gone Girl tells the story of a young woman who disappears on the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary and who may, or may not, have been killed by her husband. As he discovers, the truth is more twisted and disturbing than the murder of which he’s accused.

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Who Stole the American Dream?
As the middle-class continues to be undermined, attaining a steady job with decent pay and health benefits, home ownership and a secure retirement has become more fantasy than reality. In his new book, Who Stole the American Dream?, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times journalist and Emmy award-winning PBS producer Hedrick Smith reveals the trail of political and corporate decisions that got us to where we are, and what can be done to restore our hope for a better life for future generations.

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With Rabbis Carla Fenves of Congregation Emanu-El, David Kasher of Kevah, and Gedalia Potash of Chabad Noe Valley
The poorest place in the United States is not a dusty Texas border town or a blighted urban neighborhood. It’s Kiryas Yoel, an orthodox Jewish enclave outside of New York City where 70 percent of the people live below the poverty level. Simultaneously, Jews are the second highest earning religious group in the nation, according to the Pew Forum. Join a conversation with rabbis from diverse streams of Judaism to explore how wealth disparity in the US affects the Jewish community and the possible power of tzedakah to solve these problems.

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In conversation with Jack Boulware
Go on the trip of a lifetime through the digestive tract with best-selling science writer Mary Roach. Have you ever wondered why crunchy food hits the spot or how much the stomach will hold before it bursts? Find out in Roach’s new book, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal.

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Featuring Todd Gitlin, Daphne Merkin and Matthew Yglesias
In conversation with Marc Tracy
Can you write critically about Sheldon Adelson without being anti-Semitic? When Rupert Murdoch tweets “Why Is Jewish-owned press so consistently anti-Israel?” what does he mean? Why did every article about Bernie Madoff mention he was a Jew? Journalists Daphne Merkin, regular contributor to the New York Times and the New Yorker; Slate’s Moneybox correspondent, Matthew Yglesias, and Columbia University communications scholar and author Todd Gitlin (Occupy Nation) discuss Jewish images, Jewishness and stereotypes often used by the media.

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In conversation with Barbara Lane
In the wake of her mother’s death, with her family scattered and her marriage in tatters, author Cheryl Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. The story of how that 1,100-mile hike broke her down and built her back up again, chronicled in her bestselling book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, has resonated with audiences around the world.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:14:55 — 34.3MB)

The Gershwins and Me
Michael Feinstein was just 20 years old when he got the chance of a lifetime: a job with his hero, Ira Gershwin. The two became close friends. Feinstein blossomed under Gershwin’s mentorship, and Gershwin was reinvigorated by the younger man’s zeal for the legacy he and his brother George had created. Feinstein shares unforgettable reminiscences from his book The Gershwins and Me.

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Former CBS News anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent Dan Rather is the embodiment of the intrepid broadcast journalist. He was the first to break the news that President Kennedy had been killed, was a Vietnam War correspondent, and has interviewed everyone from Mikhail Gorbachev to Fidel Castro. In his new memoir, Rather Outspoken, he comes out swinging at CBS for showing an “absence of executive backbone” during its investigation of Abu Ghraib and reveals how his determination to air a potentially damning story about then-President George W. Bush’s spotty military record led to his firing from CBS News.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:26:12 — 39.5MB)

In conversation with Greil Marcus
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon has been called “the most significant English-language poet born since the Second World War,” but Muldoon also has a passion for rock. In his new collection, The Word on the Street: Rock Lyrics, Muldoon offers little distinction between poetry and rock music, finding common ground between W.B. Yeats’ ballad-singing porter drinkers, T.S. Eliot, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:31 — 25.4MB)