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Michael Chabon author of The Yiddish Policemen's UnionWhat if?
Novelist Michael Chabon imagines what would have happened if a Jewish settlement took hold in Alaska instead of Israel. His book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, uses this scenario to unfold a noir detective story. We ask him about the phenomenon of so-called “alternate history” fiction and if any of this has to do with his support for Barack Obama. Plus: analysis of the second Republican presidential debate and the next installment of our transportation series, Anything But The Car: Trains.
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Round Two
Eleanor Clift, contributing editor for Newsweek Magazine and Michael Maslansky, president of Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research, a conservative communications and polling firm analyze the second Republican presidential debate.
Today in Alternate History
Novelist Michael Chabon, whose latest book, The Yiddish Policeman's Union (Ecco Books/Harper Collins 2007), is a murder mystery set in an alternate Jewish homeland in Alaska.
You can read the first few pages of the book at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The Yiddish Policeman's Union is available for purchase at Amazon.com and as a thank-you gift for a pledge to WNYC.
Anything But The Car: Subways
Joseph D. Korman, train enthusiast, and retired transit worker, talks about his love for the rail system and New York subway.
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Uncommon Indicators
The Brian Lehrer Show
The Brian Lehrer Show wants to hear how the economy is affecting the little things in your daily life. Share your stories and photos of the downturn.
Just Launched! The Uncommon Economic Indicators Video Contest. All the details here!
The Rocky Road Ahead
The Brian Lehrer Show
Ray Young, the chief financial officer of General Motors, talks about GM’s bankruptcy.
Then, Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, and Greg Williams, former owner of the recently closed Huntington Chevrolet in Huntington Station, NY., discusses the effect GM’s bankruptcy has had on dealerships and their employees.- Comments [40]
Tweet If You Use Twitter
The Brian Lehrer Show
Farhad Manjoo, Slate's technology columnist and the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society talks about what Twitter means and how different groups use it.
What's your take on Twitter? How do you use it? Comment below!- Comments [15]
Don't Say That, Literally
The Brian Lehrer Show
John Flansburgh of the band They Might Be Giants discusses the running list the band keeps of "things we can no longer say." (a few examples: "my bad" "don't go there" "one hundred and ten percent" and "voted off the island")
What would be on your list of banned words or phrases? Comment below!- Comments [172]
From Denmark with Love
The Brian Lehrer Show
Jesper Grunwald, senior managing editor with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, talks about the Danish economy, biking to work, and why the Danes are allegedly the happiest people in the world.
- Comments [22]
Squatting, Then and Now
The Brian Lehrer Show
As former squats in the East Village make the transition to coops, making homes from abandoned housing is again an issue. Andrew Reicher executive director of Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, Frank Morales an Episcopal priest involved in East Village/Lower East Side squatting and homelessness activism since the late '70s, and Rob Robinson, a leader of the Housing Campaign of Picture the Homeless, discuss the return of squatting.
- Comments [44]
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