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John Thompson vs. American Justice
Episode 261
When police showed up to question John Thompson, he was worried that it was because he had sold drugs to an undercover cop. When he realized they we…
7 years, 1 month ago
Jason Rezaian on Imprisonment in Iran
Episode 260
Jason Rezaian was born in California to an Iranian father and an American mother. After a failed effort to enter the Persian rug trade, he moved to T…
7 years, 1 month ago
The Fall of a Chinese Pop Star, and Calvin Trillin’s Happy Marriage
Episode 259
For some years, Denise Ho was one of the most popular singers in Asia. A Hong Kong native, she performed the style known as Cantopop in mainland Chin…
7 years, 1 month ago
The Producer dream hampton Talks with Jelani Cobb about “Surviving R. Kelly”
Episode 258
For decades, it’s been an open secret that R. Kelly has allegedly kept young women trapped in abusive relationships through psychological manipulatio…
7 years, 1 month ago
For a French Burglar, Stealing Masterpieces Is Easier Than Selling Them
Episode 257
Vjeran Tomic has been stealing since he was a small child, when he used a ladder to break into a library in his home town, in Bosnia. After moving to…
7 years, 2 months ago
How “The Apprentice” Made Donald Trump, and a Boondoggle in Wisconsin
Episode 256
The staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe has reported on “The Apprentice” and its impact on Donald Trump—on how America saw Trump, and how Trump saw him…
7 years, 2 months ago
The Director Boots Riley on “Sorry to Bother You”
Episode 255
Boots Riley’s directorial début, “Sorry to Bother You,” blends a dark strain of comedy with a sci-fi vision of capitalism run amok. The film’s hero, …
7 years, 2 months ago
Live: Janet Mock and Chris Hayes
Episode 254
Janet Mock first heard the word “māhū,” a Native Hawaiian word for people who exist outside the male-female binary, when she was twelve. She had just…
7 years, 2 months ago
Philip Roth’s American Portraits and American Prophecy
Episode 253
The novelist and short-story writer Philip Roth died in May at the age of eighty-five. In novels like “Portnoy’s Complaint,” “The Human Stain,” and “…
7 years, 2 months ago
Christmas Music Reimagined with Kirk Douglas, the Guitarist for the Roots
Episode 252
Kirk Douglas, the guitarist for the Roots, plays anything and everything as part of the “Tonight Show” band, so David Remnick put him to the test on …
7 years, 2 months ago