U.S. History

Blanche Wiesen Cook is the author of the new biography "Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 2 1933-1938. (Viking) This edition covers The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the build-up to World War II. Cook a professor of history at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is author of "Eleanor Roosevelt," "Crystal Eastman on Women and Revolution," and "The Declassified Eisenhower."

Novelist Anthony Cave Brown discusses his latest novel and the role of the intelligence community in World War II.

Ralph Flood introduces a talk given by I. F. Stone at La Salle University on the intelligence network in the United States.

Ralph Flood introduces a talk given by I. F. Stone at La Salle University on the intelligence network in the United States.

The elite class shaped Philadelphia and Boston in important ways. Scholar E. Digby Baltzell examines how and why.

President Richard Nixon's White House Counsel John Dean served time for his role in the Watergate affair. He reflects on his new life as a writer, his reputation and how he has since distanced himself from Washington politics. WUHY reporter Ralph Flood later joins the conversation.

Writer Todd Gitlin explains how media portrayed and often misrepresented the political activities of Students for a Democratic Society and other activist groups associated with the 1960s' New Left.

Harris Wofford was Special Assistant to President John F. Kennedy for Civil Rights, the Assistant Director of the Peace Corps, a lawyer for Martin Luther King, Jr., and president of Bryn Mawr University. He currently practices law in Philadelphia. His new book is "Of Kennedys and Kings: Making Sense of the Sixties." He joins the show to discuss the leadership styles of three SIxties' figures: John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mike Frisch, a professor of History at the University of Buffalo, currently working at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses oral history. Frisch spoke with Fresh Air contributor Charles Hardy. (INTERVIEW BY CHARLES HARDY)

Jerre Mangione is an author and the director of Creative Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. His newest book is "An Ethnic at Large: A Memoir of America in the Thirties and Forties." He's currently writing a book about Italian-Americans. He joins the show to discuss the recent enforcement of an IRS regulation that requires that publishers destroy or remainder their back-stock in order to take certain deductions. Mangione's book "The Dream and the Deal" nearly faced that fate.

Madelon Bedell has just published the first in a two-volume biography of "Little Women" writer Louisa May Alcott and the Alcott family, "The Alcotts: Biography of a Family." She discusses not only the Alcotts, but also the social movements and philosophies that surrounded the family.

Louis L'Amour is known as the "most famous obscure novelist." He has written 79 novels, mostly westerns. His novels have also been adapted into films such as "Hondo." L'Amour's latest novel is "Comstock Lode." He joins the show to discuss his work, western novels and films, the relationship between Native Americans and western settlers, and what he sees for the future.

Philip Foner is the foremost historian on the labor movement in the U. S. He is the author of over eighty works, including a four volume history of the American labor movement, "Organized Labor and the Black Worker," and "Women and the American Labor Movement," the second volume of which was recently published. He is currently a visiting professor at Rutgers University.

Poet Dan Hoffman joins the show to discuss his poem "Brotherly Love," a long poem about William Penn and his vision for the United States. The poem focuses on Penn's treaty with the Native Americans in the area that would become Pennsylvania. Hoffman is the former Poet Laureate of the U. S. and currently works at the University of Pennsylvania.

Historian Philip Foner joins the show again to discuss Black history in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. Foner is the foremost historian on the labor movement in the U. S. He is the author of over eighty works, including a four volume history of the American labor movement, "Organized Labor and the Black Worker," and "Women and the American Labor Movement," the second volume of which was recently published. He is currently a visiting professor at Rutgers University.

As a young person, Philadelphia-based judge William Marutani and his family were moved to a Japanese internment camp. He discusses the history of race-based discrimination during World War II, as well a his own experiences with anti-Asian racism. He advocates for reparations from the U.S. government for those who were forcibly relocated.

The historian and prolific writer talks about the influence of communist organizations and movements in the United States and abroad. He is careful to point out the positive influence of communists in American labor movements, and cautions against viewing communism in different countries as a monolithic force.

Black activist Bobby Seale talks about the history of the Black Panther Party. In light of misrepresentations of the group in the media and by politicians, Seale clarifies their anti-racist positions and the reasons behind their actions and militant image. He also discusses his trial as part of the Chicago Eight. Fresh Air listeners call in with their questions.

Historian Philip Foner recently returned from a stint in China, where he lectured on the current state of civil rights, labor and women's movements in the United States. He shares his impressions of Chinese views on recent American history, as well as the current state of Chinese social conditions.

Historian Philip Foner returns to Fresh Air to discuss a new collection of the prominent socialist's writings, which he co-edited. He explains her place within labor, women's, and anti-war movements, and how her experience as a political prisoner galvanized her activism.