Is Reality Overrated?
Two fiction writers discuss what's real, what's not, and whether or not it really matters.
Oct 31, 2008•1 hr
ALOUD @ Los Angeles Public Library
ALOUD is the Library Foundation of Los Angeles' award-winning literary series of live conversations, readings and performances at the historic Central Library and locations throughout Los Angeles.
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Episodes
Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief
A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian (Battle Cry of Freedom) offers a revelatory portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured.
Oct 29, 2008•1 hr 14 min
Home: A Novel
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author returns to the locale of her novel Gilead in a moving and healing book about love, death, faith, families, and the passing of the generations.
Oct 24, 2008•1 hr 1 min
The China Lover
In his enthralling new novel, Buruma- an expert on modern Asia-uses the life of the starlet Yoshiko Yamaguchi as a lens through which to understand the contradictions and complexities of modern Japanese history.
Oct 22, 2008•1 hr 13 min
The Zookeeper's Wife
The true story of the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, who, with extraordinary courage, compassion, and calm under pressure, managed to save hundreds of people from Nazi hands.
Oct 21, 2008•1 hr 8 min
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar
The writer who virtually invented the modern travel narrative returns-30 years later-to the changed landscape of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, India, China, Japan, and Siberia.
Oct 16, 2008•52 min
The Photographer and His City
The photographer whose photographs serve as visual records for this city's dramatic evolution discusses his life and creative process. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Julius Shulman's Los Angeles, at the Central Library's Getty Gallery October 6, 2007-January 20, 2008
Oct 08, 2008•1 hr 11 min
Unintended Consequences: How the Iraq War Hurt America and Helped Its Enemies
A leading authority on Iraq-and architect of the partition plan endorsed by both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and many members of Congress-reports on the real consequences of the U.S. invasion.
Oct 08, 2008•1 hr 4 min
Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries
A call to arms to every voter to remember what it means to live in a free democracy, and a reminder that it's possible for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things-to get inspired and make a difference on their own.
Oct 07, 2008•1 hr 28 min
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
A historian and legal scholar tells the compelling saga of the Hemings family, whose close blood ties to our third president have been systemically expunged from American history until very recently.
Oct 02, 2008•1 hr 15 min
Forgotten Histories: Two Novelists in Conversation
Two Los Angeles-based novelists explore the rise and fall of human lives in their brilliant fictions.
Sep 29, 2008•1 hr 8 min
Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism
One of the world's leading intellectuals revisits his political roots, scrutinizes the totalitarianisms of the past, as well as those on the horizon, and argues powerfully for a new political and moral vision for our times.
Sep 26, 2008•1 hr 8 min
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter parts the curtains of secrecy to show how and why Dick Cheney operated and reflects on the legacy Cheney and the Bush administration as a whole will leave as they exit office.
Sep 24, 2008•1 hr 12 min
Truth on the Ground in a Time of War: A Conversation Between Foreign Correspondents
Two pre-eminent war correspondents offer a visceral understanding of America's overseas involvement-from the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan to the heat of the battle in Iraq, from Marine battalions in Ramadi to ordinary Iraqis whose voices have remained eerily silent.
Sep 19, 2008•1 hr 15 min
Crime: A Novel
Detective Inspector Ray Lennox of the Edinburgh P.D., on leave for mental, finds himself in the underbelly of American party culture. A macabre and unorthodox thriller by the author of Trainspotting.
Sep 18, 2008•1 hr 12 min
The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British
A reporter in the New York Times London bureau offers a hilarious and incisive look at her adopted home. \"Lyall will now be hailed as one of England's supreme analysts, preparatory to her being executed on Tower Green.\" (Clive James)
Sep 17, 2008•1 hr 10 min
Violence
A philosopher and cultural critic-whose thought challenges traditional trajectories- takes on the signal issue of violence and inverts our pre-conceived and popular notions about its causes.
Sep 11, 2008•1 hr 20 min
Obscene in the Extreme: the Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath"
Coinciding with Banned Books Week is the revelatory story behind the 1939 burning and banning of Steinbeck's book in Kern County, Calif., home of the fictional Joads.
Sep 05, 2008•1 hr 10 min
Los Angeles Without the Los Angeles Times?
A Community Forum & Panel Discussion
Aug 15, 2008•1 hr 39 min
RADIO ALOUD: A Library of the Airwaves
This pilot radio program (never broadcast) is comprised of excerpts from three ALOUD programs: a December 13, 2005 conversation between \"Six Feet Under\" writer/producer Alan Ball and writer/funeral director Thomas Lynch; a public talk on April 2, 2003 by playwright August Wilson, recipient of the 2003 Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award; and an April 4, 2005 poetry reading by W.S. Merwin. Guest Host: Alfred Molina. Co-produced by Louise Steinman and Johanna Cooper
Aug 08, 2008•50 min
Marinating in Ghetto Air: Writing and Transformation at Homeboy Industries
Featuring readings by Homeboy poets, on the deep impact creative writing can have on liberating formerly involved gang members.
Jul 24, 2008•1 hr 23 min
Photographer on the Battlefield: A Photo Lecture
Please note, this program was presented in conjunction with a photo slide show. The slide show portion of the discussion is not included in this podcast. The longtime photojournalist for the L.A. Times, who has traveled the world documenting conflict, discusses his war photography in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as work on the project \"Altered Oceans,\" for which he shared the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.
Jul 23, 2008•47 min
The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics
The inside account-with a wild cast of characters- of the battle over the true nature of black holes with nothing less than our understanding of the entire universe at stake.
Jul 18, 2008•1 hr 3 min
Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror . . . A Public Defender's Inside Account
An account of the legal struggles of two men whose civil liberties were compromised as a result of the US government's counterterrorism measures employed post-9/11 and how their experiences affect us all.
Jul 17, 2008•1 hr 8 min
My Name is Will
Bardologists will love this wildly imaginative farce- think \"Shakespeare in Love\" on magic mushrooms-by the co-founder of The Reduced Shakespeare Company.
Jul 10, 2008•1 hr
Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World's Frontlines
A long-time community arts advocate recounts the efforts of artists world-wide (from Soweto to Belgrade to Watts) to resolve conflict, heal unspeakable trauma, give voice to the forgotten and disappeared, and re-stitch the cultural fabric of their communities.
Jul 01, 2008•1 hr 15 min
Newer Poets XIII
This annual poetry reading for local voices introduces a cross-section of lively, talented writers who are making an impression in the Los Angeles poetry community.
Jun 27, 2008•1 hr 40 min
Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West
The politically charged story of the wild horse in the American West, from its origins in North America to its life today, as government and lone operators with automatic weapons seek to clear it from the range.
Jun 25, 2008•52 min
Undiscovered
First time author and three-time Oscar nominated actress (An Officer and a Gentleman, Terms of Endearment, and Shadowlands), Winger reflects upon her pursuit of a life beyond acting, converting her star status into a life filled with meaning.
Jun 19, 2008•1 hr 12 min
ALOUD Science Series: On Seeing and Being - The Body Has a Mind of Its Own
How does your mind know where your body ends and the outside world begins? Two acclaimed science writers discuss the largely unconscious ways that your brain builds maps of your body parts, your movements, the space around your body, the actions of others, and the sensations that lead to human emotions, health and disease.Made possible by a generous contribution from K&L Gates
Jun 18, 2008•1 hr 24 min
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