KPFA - Letters and Politics
KPFA
Letters & Politics seeks to explore the history behind today’s major global and national news stories. Hosted by Mitch Jeserich.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 19, 2022 • 60min
January 6th Committee Holds Final Public Meeting Hour #1
Tune-in as KPFA presents a national broadcast of the final meeting of the House Jan 6th Committee on Monday, December 19th, 2022 at 10:00 am Pacific Time. Hosted by Mitch Jeserich and produced by Corinne Smith.
The post January 6th Committee Holds Final Public Meeting Hour #1 appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 15, 2022 • 60min
KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part 4)
Host Mitch Jeserich reads excerpts from Stephen Mitchell’s Gilgamesh: A New Version. Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature.
The post KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part 4) appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 14, 2022 • 60min
KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part 3)
Host Mitch Jeserich reads excerpts from Stephen Mitchell’s Gilgamesh: A New Version. Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature.
The post KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part 3) appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 13, 2022 • 60min
KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part 2)
Host Mitch Jeserich reads excerpts from Stephen Mitchell’s Gilgamesh: A New Version. Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature.
The post KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part 2) appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 12, 2022 • 60min
KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part 1)
Host Mitch Jeserich reads excerpts from Stephen Mitchell’s Gilgamesh: A New Version. Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature.
The post KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part 1) appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 8, 2022 • 60min
KPFA Special – Whales: From its Ancient Past to its Uncertain Future
Guest: Nick Pyenson is a paleontologist, he is the curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures.
The post KPFA Special – Whales: From its Ancient Past to its Uncertain Future appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 7, 2022 • 60min
Zapatista Stories
Guest:Margaret Cerullo is a professor of Sociology and Feminist Studies at Hampshire College and a member of the Lightning Collective which put together the book Zapatista Stories for Dreaming An-Other World by Subcomandante Marcos.
The post Zapatista Stories appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 6, 2022 • 60min
KPFA Special – David Henry Thoreau: the Man Who Lived in Season
Guest: Laura Dassow Walls is the William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life, and her latest, The Daily Henry David Thoreau: A Year of Quotes from the Man Who Lived in Season.
Feature image: Benjamin D. Maxham- Thoreau -Restored on Wikipedia
The post KPFA Special – David Henry Thoreau: the Man Who Lived in Season appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 5, 2022 • 60min
A Church Occupation by the English Collective of Prostitutes & A History of Railroad Labor Disputes and Government Intervention
Part I. Reflecting on the significance of the occupation of the Church of the Holy Cross (1982) in London to protest “police illegality and racism” against sex workers.
Guest: Selma James is founder of the International Wages for Housework Campaign and author of Hookers in the House of the Lord and The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community, and Sex, Race, and Class. Selma James was the first spokesperson for the English Collective of Prostitutes.
Part II. A History of Railroad Labor Disputes and Government Intervention
Guest: Joseph A McCartin is a Professor of History at Georgetown University and the Executive Director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. His books include Labor’s Great War: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy and The Origins of Modern American Labor Relations 1912-1921, and Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America, the book won the 2012 Richard A. Lester Prize for the Outstanding Book in Industrial Relations and Labor Economics. Professor McCartin is one of the historians who have signed a Letter to President Biden in Support of the Railway Workers.
Feature image: ECP Church Occupation 1982 – Copyright Crossroads AV Collective.
The post A Church Occupation by the English Collective of Prostitutes & A History of Railroad Labor Disputes and Government Intervention appeared first on KPFA.

Dec 1, 2022 • 60min
Remembering Hale Zukas: Disability Rights Icon. Then, The Abolitionist’s Journal
Part 1. Remembering Disability Rights Icon Hale Zukas.
Hale Zukas was a member of the Rolling Quads at the University of California, Berkeley, and a founder of the first Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley. He was active in working for accessible streets and public transit, and in the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Guest: Judith E. Heumann is an International Disability Rights Advocate. She is the author of Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist. She co-founded the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley California and the World Institute on Disability in Oakland California.
Part 2. The Abolitionist’s Journal: Memories of an American Antislavery Family
Guest: James D. Richardson is a former senior writer with The Sacramento Bee and a retired Episcopal priest. He is the author of Willie Brown: A Biography.
Feature Photo: Center for Independent Living, Inc. “In Loving Memory of Hale Zukas”
The post Remembering Hale Zukas: Disability Rights Icon. Then, The Abolitionist’s Journal appeared first on KPFA.