On today’s show: We examine the fall of Bear Stearns one year after the company collapsed under a mountain of toxic assets. Followed by a look at the life of Flannery O’Connor. Then, we’ll learn how “play” shapes everything from our social skills to our intelligence. Plus, a look a populist themes in bank robbery films.
From Bear Stearns to Bear Markets
Over the course of its 85 year history Bear Stearns became one of the financial giants on Wall Street. Then, in 2008 the company collapsed and took the rest of the financial system down with it. William Cohan chronicles the infighting, hubris, bad bets and terrible decisions that destroyed the ...
The Life of Flannery O’Connor
Novelist and short story writer Flannery O'Connor is an icon of American literature, but she got her first taste of fame by teaching a chicken to walk backwards. Brad Gooch's biography Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor, takes a detailed look at the writer 45 years after her death. ...
Playing Your Brain
Dr. Stewart Brown has spent his career studying animal behavior and has also conducted more than six thousand "play histories" of humans from all walks of life. His findings indicate that play is essential to developing our social skills, adaptability, intelligence, creativity and more. His book is Play: How ...
Projections: Bank Robbery Films
From heist movies in the Great Depression to 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde" to a new film about John Dillinger, Hollywood has had a longstanding love affair with bank robbers. Our latest Projections installment looks at populist ideas in a few of these movies and why, even though they're criminals, many ...
About The Leonard Lopate Show
Host Leonard Lopate lets you in on the best conversations with writers, actors, ex-presidents, dancers, scientists, comedians, historians, grammarians, curators, filmmakers, and do-it-yourself experts.
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