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The Leonard Lopate Show

Tuesday, April 20, 2004
  • Slobodan Milosevic
    Slobodan Milosevic

    Milosevic

    The Butcher of the Balkans? Former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic is currently on trial for war crimes at the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague. Biographer Adam LeBor analyzes Milosevic’s rise to the Serbian presidency, his missteps, and his subsequent collapse. Thomas Doherty explains why television both helped to incite McCarthyism and hastened the decline of anti-communist hysteria. Then, we take a look into the 2001 Olympiad, the world’s toughest high school math competition, with science writer Steve Olson and math whiz David Shin. And Welsh poet Owen Sheers reconstructs his great-great-uncle’s long missionary career in colonial southern Rhodesia in The Dust Diaries.

Adam LeBor

Adam LeBor covered the Yugoslav wars for the Independent and the London Times. His new book is Milosevic: A Biography.

» Read an excerpt of LeBor's book(PDF)
» Read a profile of Slobodan Milosevic on CNN.com

Events: Adam LeBor discusses the biography on Thursday, April 22 at 12PM at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University as part of the Balkans Seminar Series. The title of the talk is "Inside the Mind of Slobodan Milosevic." The Harriman Institute is located in the International Affairs Building on 420 West 118th St.

Music: Instrumental CD (7/8/03), tracks 7 & 2 (“Wax Off” by Kodo and “Escalator, by Bang on a Can All Stars)

Thomas Doherty

Thomas Doherty writes that in the course of the Cold War, "television became an artery as vital to the pulse of American life as the refrigerator." He’s the author of Cold War, Cool Medium: Televison, McCarthyism, and American Culture.

» Read an excerpt of Doherty's book in the Reading Room

Events: Professor Doherty gives a lecture on Tuesday April 20th at 7:00 PM at The Convent of the Sacred Heart, Assembly Hall, 1 East 91st Street. Open to the public.

Music: Cobb, music from the motion picture, tracks 8 & 9

Steve Olson

Steve Olson is the author of Count Down: Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World's Toughest Math Competition. Joining him is David Shin, a math whiz and former participant in the 2001 Olympiad and currently a junior at MIT.

&raquo Read more about the book

Events: Steve Olson reading on Tuesday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m.,Barnes and Noble, 2289 Broadway @ 82nd St.

Music: Hanging Up soundtrack, tracks 3 & 13

Owen Sheers

The Dust Diaries: Seeking the African Legacy of Arthur Cripps is Owen Sheers’ study of his great-great-uncle, a missionary who believed in African independence and land rights long before other whites did.

&raquo Visit Owen Sheers’ website

Music: The Sheltering Sky soundtrack, track 4

Bill Richardson on Diplomacy

The Leonard Lopate Show

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson will be joining Obama’s cabinet as Commerce Secretary. You can hear him talk about his experience in foreign policy and diplomacy on the Lopate Show in April 2007.

Plaxico Burress on the Lopate Show

The Leonard Lopate Show

NY Giants star Plaxico Burress is in the headlines this week for his self-inflicted gunshot wound. You can hear him on the Leonard Lopate Show in July 2008 talk about his life on and off the football field, and what it was like to win the 2007 Super Bowl.

Tom Daschle on Fixing America’s Health Care System

The Leonard Lopate Show

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle has accepted President-Elect Barack Obama’s offer to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. You can hear Tom Daschle talk about his prescriptions for fixing American’s health care crisis on the Leonard Lopate Show in March 2008.

Barack Obama, Circa 2004

The Leonard Lopate Show

Listen to President-Elect Barack Obama on the Leonard Lopate Show in November 2004. He had recently won a seat in the U.S. Senate, and only a few months before, his rousing speech during the 2004 Democratic National Convention catapulted him into the national spotlight.

Guest Picks

The Leonard Lopate Show

Find out surprising facts about some recent guests on the Leonard Lopate Show. Check out our Guest Picks section! Did you know that football star Herschel Walker loves Judge Judy, Laurie Anderson is a big fan of agility training for dogs, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi likes Johnny Depp?