Joe Donahue

    To Anne Serling, the imposing figure the public saw hosting The Twilight Zone each week, intoning cautionary observations about fate, chance, and humanity, was not the father she knew. Her fun-loving dad, Rod Serling, would play on the floor with the dogs, had nicknames for everyone in the family.

After his unexpected death at 50, Anne, just 20, was left stunned. Gradually, she found solace for her grief by talking to his friends, poring over old correspondence, and recording her childhood memories.

Now she shares personal photos, eloquent, revealing letters, and beautifully rendered scenes of his childhood, war years, and their family's time together. Her new book is: As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling.

  Today's panelists are WAMC's President and Political Observer, Alan Chartock and WAMC News Director, Ian Pickus. Joe Donahue moderates.

Topics include:
New Obama Poll
Apple Requests
Composting in NYC
Media Conflicts
Bullying Siblings

    When Hitler’s armies occupied Italy in 1943, they also seized control of mankind’s greatest cultural treasures. As they had done throughout Europe, the Nazis could now plunder the masterpieces of the Renaissance, the treasures of the Vatican, and the antiquities of the Roman Empire. 

Robert Edsel joins us to talk about the efforts to save Italy’s great artistic treasures from the Nazis. 

His book is Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis.

  We are very happy to continue our new regular feature on The Roundtable, entitled – Ideas Matter: Checking in with the Public Humanities.

It is our chance to check in with the Humanities Councils throughout our 7-State area to discuss important ideas and why they do indeed matter.

This morning we spotlight New York State’s Summer Reading kick-off. Erika Halstead is program officer for the NY Council for the Humanities and she joins us to tell us more.

  In the seven years since her last album, Audra McDonald has kept busy…including singing the hook for Neil Patrick Harris' rap at the conclusion of Sunday’s Tony Awards. She spent several years in Hollywood, filming the television series Private Practice. She's gotten divorced and remarried, absorbed the shock of losing her father in a plane crash and watched her daughter, grow up from a kindergartener to a middle-schooler.

Last year, McDonald returned to New York, starred in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess and won a fifth Tony Award. All the ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies are reflected on her new album, Go Back Home. She will be performing at The Colonial in Pittsfield, MA tomorrow night at 8pm.

  Today's panelists are WAMC's Ray Graf and Times Union Associate Editor, Mike Spain. Joe Donahue moderates.

Topics include:
Syria
RPI
Local parks and playgrounds
Superman

    Seventy-five years after he came to life, Superman remains one of America’s most adored and enduring heroes. Now Larry Tye, the prize-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Satchel, has written the first full-fledged history not just of the Man of Steel but of the creators, designers, owners, and performers who made him the icon he is today.

The book is entitled Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero.

  Today's panelists are Alan Chartock, Ray Graf, and Ira Fusfeld. Joe Donahue moderates.

Topics include:
NSA Hacks and Leaks
Community College Graduation Rates
Hilary Clinton on Twitter
LCA Show

    Michael Connelly started his career as a newspaper reporter, eventually working as a police and crime reporter for The Los Angeles Times. While there, he covered the 1992 riots – a time and place to which he returns in the book, The Black Box, which stars LAPD detective, Harry Bosch.

Previously aired as Book Show #1279.

At the heart of Rilla Askew’s new novel, Kind of Kin, are social and political issues that continue to rend the fabric of America: illegal immigration, conflicting cultures, the abuse of power, and the tension between faith and government.

Askew has written an investigation of how sweeping, agenda-driven legislation affects real, individual lives.