When Book Bans Came to Small Town New Jersey
7 December 2022 - 44 mins explicitThis episode contains strong language.
In the contentious debate over who controls what happens in America’s schools, a new battleground has emerged: library books.
This is the story of what happened when parents in one town in New Jersey tried to remove a handful of books that they said were explicit and sexually inappropriate — and the battle that ensued.
Guest: Alexandra Alter, a reporter covering publishing and the literary world for The New York Times.
Background reading:
As highly visible and politicized book bans have exploded across the United States, librarians — accustomed to being seen as dedicated public servants in their communities — have found themselves on the front l...
Series Episodes
Trump Sent Them to a Notorious Prison. Torture Followed.
explicitWarning: This episode mentions suicide. In March, the U.S. government sent more than 200 Venezuelan men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Over four months, the men said they endured physical, mental and sexual abuse. Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief at The New York Times, interviewed 40 of these prisoners. She explains what she found out about this part of President Trump’s program of mass deportation.
36 mins
8 December Finished
Sunday Special: ’Tis the Season for Cookies
The first week of December at The New York Times is known as “Cookie Week.” Every day, for seven days, our cooking team highlights a new holiday cookie recipe. This year’s batch features flavors that aren’t necessarily traditional holiday ones — or even, for that matter, flavors. Instead, they draw inspiration from family night at the movies, drinks like Vietnamese Coffee, and perhaps most surprisingly, an Italian deli meat. In this edition of the Sunday Special, Gilbert Cruz talks with Melissa Clark and Vaughn Vreeland from New York Times Cooking about this year’s cookies, and they answer questions from readers about how to navigate cooking and baking during the holidays.
44 mins
7 December Finished
'The Interview': Kristen Stewart Wants to Show Us a Different Kind of Sex
The actress and director says the world of filmmaking needs a “full system break.”
48 mins
6 December Finished
The Lonely Work of a Free-Speech Defender
explicitWarning: This episode contains strong language and mentions of suicide. Over the past year, the federal government has taken a series of actions widely seen as attacks on the First Amendment. Greg Lukianoff, the head of a legal defense group called the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, speaks to Natalie Kitroeff about what free speech really means and why both the left and the right end up betraying it.
52 mins
5 December Finished
Trump Rants: ‘Let Them Go Back to Where They Came From’
President Trump on Tuesday delivered blatantly xenophobic public remarks, which included attacking Somali immigrants in Minnesota and calling them “garbage.” Ernesto Londoño, a reporter based in Minnesota, explains how Somalis became the president’s latest target in his effort to reshape America’s relationship to its immigrant communities.
29 mins
4 December Finished
Did a U.S. Boat Strike Amount to a War Crime?
Over the past three months, the U.S. military has been firing on boats from South America, killing more than 80 people and prompting Democrats to raise urgent questions about their legality. Now, one of these operations, which killed survivors with a second missile, has prompted congressional Republicans to join those calls for accountability. Charlie Savage, who covers national security for The New York Times, explains the renewed debate and how the administration is justifying its actions.
33 mins
3 December Finished
