Joe Jackson

From April 14 to May 21, 1927—the world held its breath while 14 aviators took to the air to capture a $25,000 prize offered to the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean without stopping. Joe Jackson discusses this race. In Atlantic Fever he writes about the lives of the big-name competitors—the polar explorer Richard Byrd, the French war hero René Fonck, the millionaire Charles Levine, and the race’s eventual winner, Charles Lindbergh—and those who have been forgotten.

Rubber is all around us: from sneakers to tires to basketballs. On today’s Please Explain, we'll find out where rubber comes from, how it’s created and used, and how it changed the world. We're joined by John Loadman, analytical chemist and author of  Tears of the Tree: The Story of Rubber--A Modern Marvel, and Joe Jackson, author of The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire.