The Leonard Lopate Show

Umberto Eco on Ugliness

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder….and ugliness may be too. Umberto Eco explores why humans are both attracted to and repelled by the monstrous in his new book On Ugliness.

Events: Umberto Eco will be speaking and signing books
Tuesday, November 13 at 7 pm
Union Square Barnes & Noble

Pierre Bayard will be in conversation with Umberto Eco and Paul Holdengraber
Saturday, November 17 at 6 pm
New York Public Library
South Court Auditorium
42nd Street (at 5th Avenue)
To purchase tickets, call SmartTix at (212) 868-4444 or go online

On Ugliness is available for purchase at amazon.com

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Georges Seurat’s Drawings at MoMA

French painter Georges Seurat is famous for his pointillist paintings, but his drawings were once described as "the most beautiful painter's drawings in existence." Jodi Hauptman has curated a new exhibit at Seurat’s drawings at MoMA.

MoMA’s Seurat exhibit website

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The Convict and the Congressman: A Major Scandal

When the FBI searched the home of Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson in 2005, they found tens of thousands of dollars in his freezer. We look into where the money came from, and how far the related corruption scandal spread. Andrew Rice’s article about the scandal in the November issue of Conde Nast Portfolio is called “The Convict and the Congressman.”

Read Andrew Rice’s article

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How the Oil Industry Changed After the Cold War

Find out how the oil industry benefited from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992…and what that means for Central Asia today. Wall Street Journal correspondent Steven LeVine’s new book is The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea.

The Oil and the Glory is available for purchase at amazon.com

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