wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

We start the show off with a discussion about veteran identity, and what it’s really like to fight in Iraq. We’ll hear from Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles, Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of the Veteran group Operation Truth, and Sean Huze, an active duty marine and author of the play The Sand Storm. Then, we’ll talk to Russian opera sensation Anna Netrebko about her latest album, Sempre Libera. Next up, we’ll talk to one of the biggest heroes in the Democratic Party today: Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Mr. Obama’s rousing speech during this year’s Democratic National Convention catapulted him into the national spotlight. And on November 2nd, he became the fourth black Senator to be elected in US History. Finally, Robert M. Poole, retired executive editor of National Geographic, celebrates the storied past and continued legacy of the magazine in Explorers House: National Geographic and the World It Made.