Jad Abumrad

07/26/21 • 45 min

4 Listeners

Abumrad is the creator of the hit public radio series RadioLab. The show started off as a series about science-related mysteries, but now it investigates all kinds of stories. The new RadioLab miniseries, 'The Vanishing of Harry Pace,' is about the man who co-founded a publication with WEB DuBois, co-wrote St. Louis Blues with WC Handy, founded the first Black-owned record company, helped desegregate a Chicago neighborhood — and then kind of disappeared. Abumrad also co-reported the podcast miniseries 'Dolly Parton's America,' which uses her life and music to examine larger issues like America's cultural divide.

Previous Episode

Best Of: Questlove / Growing Up In A Utopian Community

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson talks about directing the new film 'Summer of Soul,' documenting the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. It features performances by Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson and more, and reflects on the cultural and political changes of the time. We'll also talk about big changes in Questlove's life.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead remembers electric guitarists George Barnes and Mary Osborne, who were born 100 years ago.

Writer Akash Kapur reflects on growing up in a Utopian community founded in India 1968. While living in the U.S., he connected with a woman who also grew up in that community. They married and returned there, to better understand the social tumult of their childhood, and to learn more about the mysterious circumstances surrounding her parents' deaths. His book is 'Better to Have Gone.'

Next Episode

Public Health Expert Dr. Leana Wen On COVID & Mandates

Dr. Wen is an emergency physician, CNN Health Analyst and former Baltimore Health Commissioner. We talk about mask and vaccine mandates, the return to school and work, and the Delta variant. "Unfortunately, we're in a situation now where the vaccinated are having to pay the price for the actions of the unvaccinated," she says. Wen emigrated from China as a child and relied on the public health system while she had severe asthma. She has a new memoir called 'Lifelines.'

Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews the novel 'Wayward' by Dana Spiotta.