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John Adams interviewed by Alex RossRecorded 11/20/2008Listen to MP3 audioJohn Adams | Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life Winner of several Grammy Awards and the ... More...
Charles Baxter, William Lychack and Jess RowRecorded 3/14/2011Listen to MP3 audioCharles Baxter is the author, most recently, of Gryphon: New and Selected Stories, published in January, 2011. He... More...
Richard Russo | That Old Cape Magic with Peter Dexter | SpoonerRecorded 9/29/2009Listen to MP3 audio(This recording contains explicit content.) Richard Russo's novels are distinguished by their true-to-life depictions of... More...
Hayden Herrera | Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Sacred MonstersRecorded 2/13/2008Listen to MP3 audioRenowned art historian Hayden Herrera’s influential 1983 biography, Frida, helped establish the Mexican artist’s ... More...
Stephen Kinzer | All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror In conversation with Trudy RubinRecorded 1/25/2010Listen to MP3 audioStephen Kinzer, author of the critically acclaimed All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East ... More...
David Maraniss | Clemente with Leigh Montville | The Big BamRecorded 5/23/2006Listen to MP3 audioThe Free Library hosts Leigh Montville, the New York Times best-selling author of Ted Williams, with a new... More...
Ayana Mathis | The Twelve Tribes of Hattie with Emily Raboteau | Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African DiasporaRecorded 1/24/2013Listen to MP3 audioIn the “astonishingly powerful” novel The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, Ayana Mathis writes with “uncommon narrative a... More...
Legacy of an Execution: Michael and Robert Meeropol Interviewed by Tracey Tannenbaum Co-sponsored by First Person ArtsRecorded 6/7/2005Listen to MP3 audioWhen Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for treason in 1953, their family's destiny was forever changed. Join thei... More...
Steven Raichlen | Planet Barbecue: 275 Recipes, 53 Countries, 6 Continents of Great FlavorRecorded 7/15/2010Listen to MP3 audioSteven Raichlen began his culinary career with a Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship to study medieval cooking in Eur... More...
Tariq Ramadan | What I BelieveRecorded 10/14/2010Listen to MP3 audioDeemed a "Muslim Martin Luther" by Paul Donnelly of the Washington Post, Tariq Ramadan is leading scholar of Isla... More...
Tariq Ramadan | Islam and the Arab AwakeningRecorded 9/14/2012Listen to MP3 audioTariq Ramadan is one of the leading scholars of Islam in the Western world and a professor of Contemporary Islamic Studi... More...
Lisa Randall | Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World with Gino Segre | Ordinary Geniuses: Max Delbruck, George Gamow, and the Origins of Genomics and Big-Bang CosmologyRecorded 9/27/2011Listen to MP3 audioHarvard professor Lisa Randall—renowned for her research on particle physics and cosmology—jolted the physics world with... More...
Ahmed Rashid |JihadRecorded 2/13/2003Listen to MP3 audioA correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, The Times of London, Daily Telegraph... More...
Ahmed Rashid | Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central AsiaRecorded 6/9/2008Listen to MP3 audioA correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, the New York Review of Books, and the Nation,... More...
Diane Ravitch | Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students LearnRecorded 5/26/2004Listen to MP3 audioA dedicated historian of education, Diane Ravitch is Research Professor of Education at New York University and holds th... More...
Rachael Ray and John Cusimano | My Year in MealsRecorded 12/8/2012Listen to MP3 audioFood Network icon Rachael Ray is host of the Emmy Award–winning syndicated show Rachael Ray, as well as 30-Min... More...
David Rees | Get Your War OnRecorded 10/11/2003Listen to MP3 audioGet Your War On is David Rees' sardonic online comic strip (and book), which brilliantly deploys every post-9/11 ... More...
Ruth Reichl | Not Becoming My MotherRecorded 4/28/2009Listen to MP3 audioThe editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, Ruth Reichl is the author of three bestselling memoirs: Comfort Me wi... More...
Harry Reid | The Good Fight: Hard Lessons from Searchlight to Washington Recorded 5/9/2008Listen to MP3 audioParade magazine has described Harry Reid as one of a handful of leaders in Washington with true “in... More...
David Remnick | The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack ObamaRecorded 2/17/2011Listen to MP3 audioWith his New York Times bestselling biography The Bridge, David Remnick offers a personal and historical c... More...
Edward G. Rendell | A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us GreatRecorded 6/4/2012Listen to MP3 audioDubbed "America’s Mayor" by Al Gore, Ed Rendell served as Mayor of Philadelphia from 1992 to 1999. He revived the city's... More...
Michelle Rhee | Radical: Fighting to Put Students FirstRecorded 2/6/2013Listen to MP3 audioUnder Michelle Rhee’s leadership, the Washington, D.C. public school system—the worst performing school district in the ... More...
Richard Rhodes | John James Audubon: The Making of an AmericanRecorded 1/18/2005Listen to MP3 audioJohn James Audubon's lifework, The Birds of America, an astonishing collection of life-size and lifelike portrait... More...
Anne Rice | The Wolf GiftRecorded 2/14/2012Listen to MP3 audioAnne Rice gained notoriety and a vast cult readership for her Vampire Chronicles series, which the Washington ... More...
Frank Rich | The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to KatrinaRecorded 9/26/2006Listen to MP3 audioFrank Rich is an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times, where he writes a weekly essay on the intersection of ne... More...
John Richardson | A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932Recorded 12/11/2007Listen to MP3 audioBegun with The Prodigy and continued in The Cubist Rebel, John Richardson’s lavishly illustrated biography... More...
Thomas E. Ricks | The Gamble: General Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008Recorded 2/17/2009Listen to MP3 audioSenior Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post, Thomas E. Ricks is the author of the #1 New York Times ... More...
Tom Ridge | The Test of Our TimesRecorded 9/3/2009Listen to MP3 audioAfter September 11, 2001, former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge was appointed the first Secretary of the Department of ... More...
Josh Ritter | Bright’s PassageRecorded 7/28/2011Listen to MP3 audio“Josh Ritter has a way with metaphor,” praises the New York Times. “It’s one of the literary touches in his music... More...
Mary Roach | Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the VoidRecorded 8/3/2010Listen to MP3 audio"One of those rare writers who can tackle the most obscure unpleasantness and distill the data into a hilarious and info... More...
Mary Roach | Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary CanalRecorded 4/4/2013Listen to MP3 audioWith wit and unflagging curiosity, Mary Roach has explored the posthumous human body (Stiff), ectoplasm and the a... More...
Cokie Roberts and Steven V. Roberts | Our Haggadah: Uniting Traditions for Interfaith FamiliesRecorded 3/24/2011Listen to MP3 audioCokie Roberts is a contributing senior news analyst for NPR and a commentator for ABC News, covering politics, congress,... More...
Cokie Roberts | Founding Mothers Recorded 4/20/2004Listen to MP3 audioFor her journalism Cokie Roberts has garnered both an Emmy and the Edward R. Murrow Award. She is co-anchor of the ABC's... More...
Sharon Robinson | Promises To Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed AmericaRecorded 7/29/2004Listen to MP3 audioSharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson's only daughter, is Vice President of Educational Programming for Major League Baseball... More...
Marilynne Robinson | HomeRecorded 9/26/2008Listen to MP3 audioThe author of two previous novels, Marilynne Robinson won the PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel with Housekeep... More...
Marilynne Robinson | Gilead Recorded 11/8/2005Listen to MP3 audioMarilynne Robinson is the author of Housekeeping, a modern classic and winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award. A teach... More...
Suzzy Roche | Wayward SaintsRecorded 1/31/2012Listen to MP3 audioAlong with her sisters, Maggie and Terre, Suzzy Roche is a founding member of the beloved singing group The Roches, whos... More...
Anne Roiphe and Alix Shulman | A Discussion of Women, Working and Writing Recorded 3/12/1998Listen to MP3 audioThe acclaimed authors converse on women's issues and their celebrated books: Roiphe's Fruitful: A Real Mother in the ... More...
Al Roker | Al Roker's Big, Bad Book of BarbecueRecorded 7/9/2002Listen to MP3 audioAmerica's most popular weatherman invites us into his own backyard and shares grilling recipes, family anecdotes, tips, ... More...
Carlin Romano | America the PhilosophicalRecorded 5/21/2012Listen to MP3 audioCarlin Romano, critic-at-large of The Chronicle of Higher Education, spent 25 years as Literary Critic of the ... More...
Andy Rooney | Common NonsenseRecorded 12/3/2002Listen to MP3 audioAndy Rooney, the CBS News correspondent, writer and producer, has won the Writers Guild Award for Best Script of ... More...
Ruth Rosen | William Blake: Man Without A MaskRecorded 12/6/2007Listen to MP3 audioSince leaving the Royal Shakespeare Company, Ruth Rosen has established an international reputation for her highly indiv... More...
Dennis Ross | StatecraftRecorded 6/21/2007Listen to MP3 audioAmerica’s longest-serving Middle East envoy and former U.S. Ambassador, Dennis Ross was the point person on the peace pr... More...
Dennis Ross | The Missing PeaceRecorded 9/9/2004Listen to MP3 audioAmerica's longest-serving Middle East envoy and former U.S. Ambassador, Dennis Ross was the point person on the peace pr... More...
Jeffrey Ross | I Only Roast the Ones I Love Recorded 9/17/2009Listen to MP3 audio(This recording contains explicit content.) One of the world's foremost insult comics, Jeffrey Ross is "a one-man... More...
Alex Ross | Listen to ThisRecorded 10/26/2010Listen to MP3 audioNew Yorker music critic Alex Ross has received two American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Deems T... More...
Alex Ross and Chip Kidd | MythologyRecorded 11/6/2000Listen to MP3 audioChip Kidd discusses with Alex Ross his behind-the-scenes look at Ross's iconic cast of DC Comics characters. ... More...
Daniel Bernard Roumain | I Composer, InstrumentallyRecorded 6/10/2003Listen to MP3 audioFresh from performances with Grammy-Award® winning jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson in New York City, the Free Library of ... More...
Laurie Rubin | Do You Dream in Color?: Insights From a Girl Without SightRecorded 3/19/2013Listen to MP3 audioBlind since birth, mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin has been praised for her “compelling artistry” and “communicative power” (... More...
Trudy Rubin, Willfull Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq with Dave LindorffRecorded 11/17/2004Listen to MP3 audioTrudy Rubin is the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and a member of the Inquirer's... More...