Midday on WNYC

Nandini Bagchee discusses her book Counter Institution: Activist Estates of the Lower East Side. Intersecting architecture, urban design practices, geography, and cartography with history, politics, and sociology, the book deftly charts the history of activism in New York City and how the city can inspire and encourage political engagement. Using drawings, maps, timelines, and photographs to underline the connections between people, politics, and space, Bagchee offers new ways to imagine buildings as a critical part of the civic infrastructure and the activist history of New York. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal. 

The 2018 World Cup has 736 players from around the world with many playing on teams that are not from their country of origin. Though this makes for diverse teams, the fans don’t always agree, expressing their dismay in abrasive language, racial slurs, and in one case, even death threats. Chiqui Esteban, an editor at The Washington Post, explains the process of how players get paired with teams and how that impacts the World Cup. This episode is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

Peter Whoriskey, a reporter and staff writer for The Washington Post discusses his recent article, “A way of monetizing poor people: How private equity firms make money offering loans to cash-strapped Americans.” Whoriskey looks at one company in particular, Mariner Finance, and how it targets low-income Americans and offers them high-interest loans. By “mass-mailing checks...the company enables some of the nation’s wealthiest investors and investment funds to make money offering high-interest loans to cash-strapped Americans.” This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

John H. Tucker discusses his recent investigation for New York Magazine, “Rape at Rosie’s,” along with Darcell Marshall, who is featured in the piece and won $1.2 million in a suit against the city last year.  A recent anonymous survey of 53,000 inmates in 358 jails nationwide put Rikers’ Rose M. Singer Center among the top ten worst jails in the country. Tucker’s investigation looks into how female inmates are being sexually assaulted by staff. Of the 307 allegations of sexual misconduct made in 2016 and 2017, 85% of those cases haven’t been resolved. Of the 45 cases that have been resolved, the Department of Corrections has ruled in favor of the female complainant only once. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

Adam Fisher discusses his new book Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley. He goes inside the secret history of Silicon Valley -- from the origins of Apple and Atari, to Google and Facebook, and all the start-ups that rose and fell along the way. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

Dan Kaufman discusses his new book The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics, where he examines how Wisconsin went from being a progressive laboratory of democracy, to the state that elevated Donald Trump to the presidency in the 2016 election.  On July 10 Dan Kaufman will be in conversation with George Packer at McNally Jackson at 7 pm (76 N 4th St Brooklyn, NY 11249).   This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal. 

Emily Jane Fox talks about her book Born Trump: Inside America’s First Family. She goes inside the lives of President Trump’s five children and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, their roles in the campaign and administration, and their relationships with their father. This episode is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

James Crabtree discusses his book The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age. Crabtree relays a personal journey through India’s elite to meet billionaires, tycoons, and political power brokers. Crabtree dramatizes the battle between crony capitalists and economic reformers, revealing a tense struggle between equality and privilege playing out against a backdrop of aspiration, class, and caste. This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal. 

Caroline Kaufman used poetry as a means of coping with depression and self-harm. In 2013 when she started posting her work on an anonymous Instagram account, she received a resounding response from people all over the world. Her poetry became a light for people to find a way out of their own dark times. Kaufman's work is collected in her new book Light Filters In: Poems.  This segment is guest hosted by Arun Venugopal.

The Beatles’ hair style set off a cultural revolution. It was the symbol of the Sixties’ psychedelic dreams of peace, love and playful rebellion, and hairdresser Leslie Cavendish was the man behind it all. In his new memoir, The Cutting Edge, Cavendish details his journey from a North London suburb to becoming the Beatles’ hairdresser and a major influencer of 60's counterculture. This segment is guest hosted by Kai Wright.

New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer discusses her article in the March 12 issue, “The Man Behind the Dossier” (Online: “Christopher Steele, the Man Behind the Trump Dossier”). Mayer profiles the former British spy turned private investigator Christopher Steele, and untangles the many inaccuracies, misunderstandings, and accusations around the intelligence he collected in 2016 about Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. This segment is guest hosted by Kai Wright.

Dr. Michio Kaku is planning for life on mars. In his new book The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality and Our Destiny Beyond Earth, Kaku details the process by which humanity may gradually move away from the planet and develop a sustainable civilization in outer space. He explores how humans would need to leave Earth, how long it would take, and what we would need to adapt Mars for human life. This segment is guest hosted by Kai Wright.

Joy Press talks about her book Stealing the Show: How Women Are Revolutionizing Television. Female writers, directors, and producers have radically transformed the television industry in recent years. Press looks at how it took decades of determination in the face of prejudice to reach this new era. She tells the story of the maverick women who broke through the barricades, from trailblazers like Roseanne Barr (Roseanne) and Diane English (Murphy Brown), to Amy Sherman Palladino (Gilmore Girls), Jenji Kohan (Weeds, Orange Is the New Black) and Jill Soloway (Transparent). This segment is guest hosted by Kai Wright.

Bestselling author Kristin Hannah discusses her new novel The Great Alone. Set in Alaska in 1974, it tells the story of two families who move to the Alaskan wilderness in search of a better life. It focuses on the lives of Ernt Allbright, a former POW, who has recently returned from Vietnam and Leni, a 13-year-old girl caught in the middle of her parents’ dysfunctional relationship.  This segment is guest hosted by Jami Floyd.  

Historian Joshua Zeitz discusses his book Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House. He looks at how LBJ’s Great Society programs were put into practice by staff members who included Bill Moyers, Jack Valenti, Joe Califano and Harry McPherson. He tells the story of how one White House staff fundamentally changed everyday life for millions of citizens and forged a legacy of compassionate and interventionist government. This segment is guest hosted by Jami Floyd.