The Leonard Lopate Show

A Sociologist’s Turn as a Gang Leader

For seven years, sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside and found a complex, tightly organized society bound by friendship and force. His new book is Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets.

Event: Sudhir Venkatesh will be speaking and signing books
Monday, January 14 at 7 pm
Upper West Side Barnes & Noble
2289 Broadway (at 82nd Street)

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17 Years as a Heart Transplant Patient

Amy Silverstein was an ambitious, type-A 24-year-old law student when she became suddenly became ill and learned she needed a heart transplant. More than 17 years later, she’s still in recovery. In Sick Girl, she writes about her medical journey and the pressure to be "normal" that transplant patients often feel from well-meaning family and friends.

Weigh in: If you are or have been seriously ill, did you feel pressure from family and friends to put on a good front and act as "normal" as possible?

Read an excerpt of Sick Girl

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The Soul of the Rhino

Scientist Hemanta Mishra has spent much of his life trying to save the Indian Rhino from extinction in his native Nepal. He’s author of The Soul of the Rhino: A Nepali Adventure with Kings and Elephant Drivers, Billionaires and Bureaucrats, Shamans and Scientists and the Indian Rhinoceros.

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An Abortion Doctor Speaks Out

OB/GYN Dr. Susan Wicklund talks about her own difficult abortion at a young age...and why she then chose a career on the front lines of the war over reproductive rights. She has to wear a bulletproof vest, and carries a .38 caliber revolver. She’s author of This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor.

Weigh in: Dr. Wicklund is open about her own experiences getting an abortion. Nearly a million women each year get an abortion each year in the US, according to the CDC. Considering that so many women share that experience, do you think it’s considered acceptable for women to speak openly about their own abortions?

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