Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality By Cheryl Chumley chats with Dr. Alvin
Cheryl Chumley Click Here To Listen
Mississippi Eyes: The Story And Photography Of The Southern Documentary Project By Matt Herron chats with Dr. Alvin
Matt Herron Click Here To Listen Mississippi Eyes is the chronicle of the events and the powerful witness of five young photographers in The Southern Documentary Project, working during the pivotal summer of 1964 in the segregated South. Together they captured the sometimes violent, sometimes miraculous process of social change as segregation resisted then gave way to a new beginning toward social justice.
Blacklist by Jerry Ludwig chats with Dr. Alvin
Jerry Ludwig Click Here To Listen Today, people point fingers and shout, “terrorist!” Not long ago, the accusation was “Communist!” Many who testified before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee said they did so out of desperation and fear. Those who refused to speak were fired or blacklisted. Others fled rather than betray friends…or their belief in American liberty. David Weber and Jana Vardian were Hollywood’s golden children; their fathers, successful screenwriters, mingled with stars and studio moguls. Then HUAC shattered their idyll, sending David and his parents into exile in Europe; Jana’s father testified and soon became a famous director. Returning to Los Angeles as an adult to bury his father, David comes to the [...]
Scalia: A Court Of One By Bruce Allen Murphy chats with Dr. Alvin
Bruce Allen Murphy Click Here To Listen An authoritative, deeply researched biography of the most controversial and outspoken Supreme Court justice of our time and how he chose to be right rather than influential. Antonin Scalia knew only success in the first fifty years of his life. His sterling academic and legal credentials led to his nomination by President Ronald Reagan to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in 1982. In four short years there, he successfully outmaneuvered the more senior Robert Bork to be appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986.
Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangster Legend By Christian Cipollini chats with Dr. Alvin
Christian Cipollini-Lucky Luciano Click Here To Listen Charles Lucky Luciano is one of the most researched, discussed and dissected American mobsters of all time. His name has become synonymous with NY City's high drama gangland days of prohibition bootlegging, the information of the infamous five families, and controversy over his alleged Last Testament. However, there exists many fascinating and lurid tales and theories regarding Lucky's rise and fall from the mobs top spot. Some of these stories are known, but still incited debate, such as the origins of his nickname and menacing facial scars. Other legends are not so well known to the general public With information culled from rare news articles, government documents and [...]
The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice By Rebecca Musser chats with Dr. Alvin
Rebecca Musser-Witness Wore Red Click Here To Listen Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, she received a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs. Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens she became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family. <u1:p> The church, however, had a way of pulling her back [...]
The White Boy Confessions By Marcus Valdespino chats with Dr. Alvin
Marcus Valdespino Click Here To Listen The White Boy Confessions is the powerful autobiography of Marcus Valdespino and deals with gang life and violence in San Antonio and such controversial subjects as race relations, poverty, and interracial crime. The first 29 years of Valdespino's was compelling and tragic. He witnessed his father's drug dealing to high profile people and Marcus, unfortunately followed in his footsteps. Valdespino's story shows the worst of humanity and is chilling in its depiction of sex and violence and heartfelt, poignant and sad in its betrayal of the rite of passage of a young person growing up in this world. The White Boys Confessions is also extremely powerful in its [...]
The Residue Years By Mitchell S. Jackson chats with Dr. Alvin
Mitchell Jackson 2 Click Here To Listen Mitchell S. Jackson grew up black in a neglected neighborhood in America’s whitest city, Portland, Oregon. In the ’90s, those streets and beyond had fallen under the shadow of crack cocaine and its familiar mayhem. In his commanding autobiographical novel, Mitchell writes what it was to come of age in that time and place, with a break-out voice that’s nothing less than extraordinary. The Residue Years switches between the perspectives of a young man, Champ, and his mother, Grace. Grace is just out of a drug treatment program, trying to stay clean and get her kids back. Champ is trying to do right by his mom and younger [...]
The Rule Of Nobody By Philip K. Howard chats with Dr. Alvin
Philip Howard Click Here To Listen The secret to good government is a question no one in Washington is asking: “What’s the right thing to do?” What’s wrong in Washington is deeper than you think. Yes, there’s gridlock, polarization, and self-dealing. But hidden underneath is something bigger and more destructive. It’s a broken governing system. From that comes wasteful government, rising debt, failing schools, expensive health care, and economic hardship.Rules have replaced leadership in America. Bureaucracy, regulation, and outmoded law tie our hands and confine policy choices. Nobody asks, “What’s the right thing to do here?” Instead, they wonder, “What does the rule book say?”There’s a fatal flaw in America’s governing system—trying to decree correctness [...]
U.S. Marshalls By Mike Earp chats with Dr. Alvin
Mike Earp Click Here To Listen Deputy U.S. Marshal: How often did you draw your gun? Retiring FBI Agent: Never. You? Deputy U.S. Marshal: Seven times before lunch. 123,006 Fugitives That's how many wanted men and women, each with an average of four felony convictions to his or her name, the U.S. Marshals Service tracked down and arrested in 2012. Of that number, 3,962 were charged with murder, most were violent career criminals, and all were on the run from the authorities. If you are a fugitive in America, your worst nightmare is a deputy U.S. marshal on your trail: each year the Marshals Service takes more criminals off the streets than every other federal [...]