One of the things I find most fascinating about Thomas Frank's work is that he is required, by virtue of his interest in our political system and its foibles, to be a keen observer of language as it is used and misused. In our discussion based on his latest column for Harper's, it all comes down to a single word — infidel.
Of course, given that this is America in the 21st century, that word first piqued Frank's interest when he saw it on a T-Shirt — and from there, a thoroughly engrossing essay has grown. From the original Crusades until now, the word infidel has taken on new meanings and been used in way in which those who originated the term simp could not recognize.
Of course, Frank approaches all of his work with a nicely off-kilter sense of humor that veers away from polemic. He is, after all, outside the box with which the Washington, DC opinion machine would like to surround him. I can see that T-shirt now. You can hear him talk about the T-shirt that inspired him at Harper's and the history of the word infidel by following this link to the MP3 Audio file.
01-03-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 25: Jonathan Lethem, 'The Ecstasy of Influence'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the twenty-fifth episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
01-02-12:A 2011 Interview with Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith
Click image for audio link.
"... he was such a voracious reader ..."
—Steven Naifeh
We think of Vincent Van Gogh, and reading is not the first thing to come to our minds — but it should be. In 'Van Gogh: The Life,' Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith have re-created Van Gogh for readers, and it is indeed a remarkable book, immersive and intense. My interview with them mirrored my experience of the book, and it's my hope that readers and potential readers will find this conversation nearly as compelling as the authors' prologue to the book.
The set up for the interview was pretty amazing. We were allowed to film the authors in the conference room for the Los Angeles Country Museum of Modern Art, and our thanks go out to the hard-working staff who made this possible. It was an amazing (if rather boomy) room with furniture that belonged on the set of Mad Men, or in a museum; which, in a sense it was. We got audio and video of the interview; we're editing the video as I write this.
Not surprising, given the revelations in this biography, Naifeh and Smith had talked to a lot of people; I watched them on 60 Minutes in a segment that got them to Van Gogh's grave. But I was fortunate enough to have to have actually read the book, so I was able to get a grip on what they had actually accomplished. The resulting conversation was truly gratifying, as we explored what they wrote and how it came to be.
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
