About this season
Interviews with public figures.
Episodes (27)
1. Jonathan Alter
Aired 21 October 2010
Longtime Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter joins us to discuss the latest in politics, the midterm elections and The Promise: President Obama, Year One, his new book about the beginning of Obama's presidency.
2. P.J. O'Rourke
Aired 28 October 2010
P. J. O'Rourke was a political satirist when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were still in short pants - and he was angry at the establishment when Sarah Palin was still reading sports scores on the local news.
3. Amanda Hesser
Aired 4 November 2010
Star food writer Amanda Hesser is a prolific food writer for The NY Times, former food editor of The NY Times Magazine, co-creator of the recipe lover's blog food52 and the author of the new, 1000-recipe The Essential NY Times Cookbook.
4. Jim Leach
Aired 11 November 2010
Jim Leach became head of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2009, after 30 years in Congress. A Republican, Leach often strayed from the party line and advocates civility - attitudes he has vowed to bring to his NEH job.
5. Howard Dean
Aired 18 November 2010
The midterms are behind us and a new political landscape is taking shape. Howard Dean, former Vermont governor, 2004 contender for the Democratic presidential nomination and former DNC chair, joins us to discuss what's ahead.
6. Sam Tanenhaus
Aired 2 December 2010
Sam Tanenhaus is editor of The New York Times Book Review, and his biography of Whittaker Chambers was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. His latest book is The Death Conservatism.
7. Ian Frazier
Aired 9 December 2010
Frazier's varied mix of humorous essays, meticulously reported books of non-fiction, and wide-ranging magazine articles, tackle the history of the Great Plains, a humorous look at the life of Don Johnson and a trip through Siberia.
8. Bill Bradley
Aired 16 December 2010
Billy Bradley has been a three-term US Senator, a candidate for the 2000 Democratic nomination, an NBA hall of famer, a Rhodes Scholar, the author of six books, the host of a radio show and a partner in a New York investment bank.
9. Michael Pollan
Aired 23 December 2010
Author and activist Michael Pollan's work mixes journalism, environmentalism, animal rights, anthropology, and foodiness. He's become an educator, agitator, guide for the not-so-simple act of buying and consuming food.
10. Ed Rendell
Aired 13 January 2011
PA Governor Ed Rendell leaves public life this month after 8 years as Governor, a stint as the DNC's head and many years in public office before that. He talks about wussiness in America, infrastructure problems and learning to drive again.
11. Douglas Brinkley
Aired 20 January 2011
Douglas Brinkley's books explore U.S. history from old times to new, from one end of the country to the other, through profiles of events and people and institutions. His latest book is The Quiet World: Saving Alaska's Wilderness Kingdom.
12. Lawrence Wright
Aired 27 January 2011
Lawrence Wright's most recent book, The Looming Tower, won a Pulitzer and set the highest possible bar for reporting on our complicated post-9/11 world. His next big project - for The New Yorker and a book - examines Scientology.
13. Chely Wright
Aired 3 February 2011
Singer-songwriter Chely Wright has been named Best New Female Vocalist and one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People. She's also author of a memoir, the first openly gay country music star and founder of The LIKE ME Organization.
14. Matthew Dowd
Aired 17 February 2011
Matthew Dowd has worked at the heart of American politics for more than 25 years, shaping strategies and campaigns for both Democrats and Republicans. It's widely reported that his latest advice is for President Barack Obama.
15. John Mackey
Aired 24 February 2011
John Mackey is co-founder & CEO of Whole Foods Market, the largest U.S. natural foods grocer and a growing global presence, with more than 300 stores in North America and the U.K. Whole Foods marks it's 30th anniversary this year.
16. Lawrence Lessig
Aired 10 March 2011
Lawrence Lessig is a celebrated academic, an acclaimed author, and an energetic activist whose great cause is rights and freedoms in the digital sphere. He's also increasingly an advocate for accountability in institutions.
17. Bill Paxton
Aired 17 March 2011
Bill Paxton is a gifted actor whose credits include One False Move, Weird Science and Apollo 13, but legions of wannabe sister wives know him as polygamist Bill Henrickson on HBO's Big Love, soon ending a marvelous five-year run.
18. Garrison Keillor
Aired 24 March 2011
Garrison Keillor is an author, humorist, storyteller and icon of public broadcasting whose weekly radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, has been a part of our lives, in one form or another, since 1974.
19. Wyatt Cenac
Aired 7 April 2011
Wyatt Cenac's reports for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart have introduced his work to a wide audience. But his work reaches far beyond his role as a fake news writer and correspondent.
20. Diane Wood
Aired 14 April 2011
Diane Wood is a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judge respected across the political spectrum as an intellectual heavyweight. Twice, she's made Obama's short list for the Supreme Court. Maybe the third time will be the charm.
21. Calvin Trillin
Aired 21 April 2011
Calvin Trillin has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1963, and over those many years he's written enough pieces about Texas food and politics and life in general to fill an anthology. Trillin on Texas is in bookstores now.
22. Gail Collins
Aired 28 April 2011
Gail Collins is a funny and fearless twice-weekly columnist for The New York Times, the first woman ever to serve as the paper's editorial page editor and the author of several books. Her new book will be about, yes, Texas.
23. Holland Taylor
Aired 5 May 2011
Holland Taylor is an award-winning actress, acclaimed for her work on stage, in film and on television, whose one-woman play about the life of former Texas governor Ann Richards will be soon be coming to a theater near you.
24. Wendy Kopp
Aired 12 May 2011
Wendy Kopp is founder and CEO of Teach for America, which has recruited the best and brightest college students to become teachers where they're needed most - in urban and rural public schools - for more than two decades.
25. Harry Shearer
Aired 19 May 2011
Harry Shearer is an Emmy and Grammy-nominated actor and writer whose credits include Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and The Simpsons. The Big Uneasy, his documentary about New Orleans before and after Katrina, has just been released.
26. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Aired 26 May 2011
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a celebrated advocate and activist on behalf of the environment, conservation and responsible stewardship of the planet through two watchdog groups dedicated to protecting water in New York and worldwide.
27. Julian Bond
Aired 2 June 2011
Julian Bond is an activist, academic, author and true icon of the civil rights movement. He helped found the SNCC and has led both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NACCP. Bond also served 10 terms in Georgia's legislature.