Alex Kerr tells Jim Fleming that the administration of daily life in Japan is completely divorced from politics and that Japan spends some 40 percent of its budget on construction.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Constitution quoting religious fanatics with guns taking over government land might seem as extreme as you could take your beliefs in god and country. But you can take it further. Christian Picciolini is the former leader of the US’s first neo-Nazi skinhead organization. He too was acting out of patriotism. He was also acting out of hate and white supremacy. The title of his 2015 memoir, “Romantic Violence” says it all. But Christian quit being a neo-Nazi skinhead. And in 2010, he co-founded a nonprofit peace advocacy groups called Life After Hate that helps youth leave extremist groups. Charles Monroe-Kane sat down with Christian for a frank discussion on racism.
Israeli novelist Amos Oz tells Steve Paulson that his own life parallels the history of modern Israel and that his parents were intellectual European emigres.
Anthony Doerr wrote a stunning book of short stories, “The Shell Collector.” Doerr talks with Anne Strainchamps and we hear readings from the title story.
Angus Trumble is Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art, and is the author of “A Brief History of the Smile.” He tells Steve Paulson that the Julia Roberts-style toothy grin in a recent fashion that would have seemed improper centuries ago.
Essayist Andre Aciman is fascinated by memory , though he says what we remember is rarely straightforward. He talks with Steve Paulson about memory and writing.
In his new book “Better Living Through Criticism,” A.O. Scott distills his decades-long career into a simple to read manifesto that not only explains the qualities of a good critic, but argues their fundamental importance to any culture.
Albert Glinsky is the author of “Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage.” The book is a biography of Leon Theremin and a history of the instrument that bears his name.
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