Purge
Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright Sofi Oksanen discusses her novel Purge, an international bestseller that has won Finland’s most prestigious literary awards.Set in 1992, shortly after the...
View ArticleWNYC Covers the Celebration of Wiley Post's Record Breaking Flight Around the...
New York Mayor John P. O'Brien* pinned a gold medal on Wiley Post, 'round-the-world flier' on the steps of City Hall, July 26, 1933. Post's wife Edna Mae is on the right behind the WNYC microphone....
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Communist Propaganda or Capitalist Commercial? A 1930s WNYC Broadcast is...
Moscow's Park of Culture and Rest was one of the topics in a controversial series of travelogues aired by WNYC in late 1937 and early 1938. Critics of the station charged the broadcasts were Soviet...
View ArticleAleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Apricot Jam and Other Stories
Ignat Solzhenitsyn discusses his father Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Apricot Jam and Other Stories, available for the first time in English. After years of living in exile, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returned...
View ArticleBlacklisted by Putin: Bill Browder Speaks
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hopes to return to the president's office in Russia, but he never really gave up any of the power that went with the office. Putin rules Russia with an authoritarian hand...
View ArticleSvetlana Alliluyeva's Graceful Defection from the Soviet Union
In this recording from April 26, 1967, Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Joseph Stalin, fields a variety of questions from the New York press after leaving her homeland. "I feel like Valentina...
View ArticleWarlords
Kimberly Marten, Barnard College political science professor and the author of Warlords: Strong-arm Brokers in Weak States, talks about those who impose order in failed states.
View ArticleLife Behind the Iron Curtain, 1944–56
Pulitzer Prize-winner Anne Applebaum discusses how Communism took over Eastern Europe after World War II and transformed the individuals who came under its sway. Her history Iron Curtain: The Crushing...
View ArticleDiplomatic Impunity: Dean Acheson Counsels Audiences on Disarmament
In 1958, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson was out of power but not out of opinions. At this Book and Authors Luncheon the influential statesman weighs in on the pressing foreign policy question...
View ArticleWorld War II ‘Night Witch’ Dies at 91
Born in 1921 in a small coal-mining town in Eastern Ukraine, Nadezhda Popova dreamed of becoming a teacher or a nurse when she was young. Then one day a pilot was blown off course and landed in a field...
View ArticleThe Former Soviet Union in the '90s, in Blue
One of the leading photographers of the former Soviet Union is showing 40 years of work in New York City.Boris Mikhailov's retrospective is at the Dominique Levi gallery on the Upper East Side.The show...
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Happy Cosmonautics Day, and Other Fascinating Moments From Radio Moscow
As the Winter Olympic games get under way in Sochi, the American press appears to be extra sensitive about getting the 'real story' out of Russia lest they be tagged propagandists for what many in the...
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Lenin's Favorite Songs
The father of the Russian Revolution was reportedly a big music lover. Along with songs of revolution and struggle, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was said to be a fan of Russian folk songs, Tchaikovsky,...
View ArticleGhosts of Russian History Still Alive in Europe
As Russia flexes its muscles in Ukraine and Crimea, for many former Soviet citizens, the present looks all too familiar to the past. This week, The Takeaway hears from former citizens of the Eastern...
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What a New Cold War Could Sound Like
With the collapse of the Soviet Union 25 years ago, the Cold War was declared over. Now, the pundits, policy analysts and TV talking heads say Russia's annexation of Crimea might be the start of a...
View ArticleView from the Eastern Bloc: Poland
Born in Poland in 1945, Eva Hoffman began her life in a country firmly under Soviet rule."The Soviet Union basically controlled the countries of Eastern Europe," she tells The Takeaway's John...
View ArticleThe Unplanned Fall of the Berlin Wall
On the night of November 9, 1989, crowds swarmed toward the Berlin Wall, pulled by news that caught the world by surprise: the Wall—infamous symbol of divided Cold War Europe—seemed to be falling....
View ArticleHow the Soviets Changed Hockey
Soviet leaders used sports and their stars to demonstrate Soviet superiority and win the hearts and minds of the Russian people, and hockey was one of the foremost propaganda tools in this era....
View ArticleHarrison Salisbury, The Reporter as Witness to the Truth
In this March 1, 1988 talk, Harrison Salisbury, a giant of 20th century journalism, explains that a newsperson’s obligation is to report an event “to convey the essence of what happened and why it’s...
View ArticleFrom National Sports Hero To Political Enemy
Legendary Soviet and NHL Hockey star Slava Fetisov will be joining us to discuss the documentary he was featured in, "Red Army," which is playing at AMC Loews Village 7.
View ArticleThe "Department of Jokes"
The notion of using broad laws to suppress the arts has a long and horrifying tradition in Russia. Last year, Bob spoke with comedian Yakov Smirnoff about performing in the Soviet Union, where comics...
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Rescuing Soviet History Before It Disappears
After the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, most members of the former Eastern Bloc were eager to put their memories of the collapsed Soviet empire behind them. A new museum in Los Angeles has...
View ArticleWhat You Know About World War II Is Wrong
Click on the audio player above to hear the full interview.Of the 16 million Americans who served in the Second World War, just over 800,000 are still alive today, watching as time has rewritten the...
View ArticleUtah and Idaho Vote Sanders; Multilinguists Just Get It; Is This Food Racist?
Coming up on today's show:Bernie Sanders won big in Utah and Idaho, while Hillary Clinton took Arizona in yesterday's contests. On the Republican side, Ted Cruz won Utah handily, and Donald Trump...
View ArticleLenin's Family History According to the Soviet Union
A Bedtime Story from Radio Moscow, might be the more apt title of this 1963 program, rather than "Lenin's Family." Never broadcast on WNYC (it was labeled "Prop" for Propaganda and relegated to the...
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I Am Twenty: Soviet New Wave Filmmaking in the Khrushchev Thaw
The film I Am Twenty (Mne dvadtsat' let), directed by Marlen Khutsiev, follows Sergei, a young man recently returned home from serving in the military. He reconnects with his friends only to find that...
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Cold War First Lady Nina Khrushcheva Sends a Message for World Peace
In this 1962 “address to the women of America,” Nina Petrovna Khrushcheva, the wife of Premier Nikita Khrushchev, urges the United States to end the cold war by full disarmament and to dump all weapons...
View ArticleJulian Barnes Pays Tribute to Shostakovich
Man Booker prize-winning author Julian Barnes discusses his most recent novel, The Noise of Time, which is dedicated to the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. It tells the story of his life...
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Tunguska Event: The Truth is Out There
At approximately 7 AM on the morning of June 30th, 1908, a bright falling star—described as "splitting the sky in two"1—was observed by thousands of people living in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in...
View ArticleThe Birth of "McCarthyism"
Senator Joseph McCarthy rails against former president Harry Truman in this 1953 speech. Truman, McCarthy claims, has been popularizing "McCarthyism," a term coined by the Communist Party paper The...
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In 1985 interview, Castro spoke of fearing U.S. invasion
Watch Video | Listen to the AudioJOHN YANG: Finally tonight: An excerpt from an interview done by our own Robert MacNeil with the late Fidel Castro.Conducted in 1985, MacNeil asks Castro to describe...
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Once a superpower, how strong is Russia now?
St. Basil Cathedral is in Moscow’s Red Square. File photo by Maxim Zmeyev/ReutersNot since the end of the Cold War has Russia dominated U.S. headlines to the degree we’ve seen during this election....
View ArticleWorld on Edge: Russia, The U.S. and History’s Greatest Geopolitical Chess Match
Is the world seeing the dawn of a new Cold War between the United States and Russia? As questions continue to swirl about the Kremlin’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election, a familiar pattern...
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Why domesticated foxes are genetically fascinating (and terrible pets)
A domesticated fox, produced as part of a long-term breeding program in Russia, being cuddled. Photo by Judith A. Bassett Canid Education and Conservation CenterCultures across the globe consider foxes...
View ArticlePresident Kennedy on the "Soviet Manufactured" Berlin Crisis
JFK confronts the Berlin Crisis and nuclear testing in this 1961 press conference. Insisting that the crisis is "Soviet manufactured," Kennedy first reads a lengthy statement summarizing the struggle...
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Skin Vision in the Soviet Union
How would you describe the physical feeling of a color? Warm? Cold? Slippery? Coarse? Sticky? Would you be able to distinguish between colored objects without looking at them? This 1960s episode of...
View ArticleNikita Khrushchev Bids New York Farewell
Nikita Khrushchev bids New York farewell. In this 1959 recording of a brief airport ceremony, the Soviet Premier is addressed by Mayor Wagner's representative, Russell W. Patterson, who gives him a...
View ArticleMasha Gessen On Russia's Return To Totalitarianism
Award-winning journalist and author Masha Gessen joins us to discuss her latest book, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. She follows the lives of four people born during the...
View ArticleHelen MacInnes
"An adult Ian Fleming," is how Helen MacInnes, acclaimed author of international spy thrillers, is introduced to the audience at this 1964 Book and Author Luncheon. She is here to promote her recently...
View Article337- Atomic Tattoos
In the early 1950s, teenage students in Lake County, Indiana, got up from their desks, marched down the halls and lined up at stations. There, fingers were pricked, blood was tested and the teenagers...
View Article353- From Bombay with Love
From the 1950s right up to its collapse, people in the Soviet Union were completely infatuated with Indian cinema. India and The Soviet Union had completely different politics, languages, and cultures....
View ArticleNATO's Struggle to Define Its Future
It’s been 70 years since the birth of North Atlantic Treaty Organization. To commemorate the anniversary, leaders of the 29 member countries are gathering in London this week. But instead of pomp and...
View Article'Putin's People'
Reuters investigative correspondent Catherine Belton discusses her book, Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West. This segment is guest-hosted by Ilya Marritz.
View ArticlePutin's Attack on Russia's Historical Memory
We learned this week that after months of wrangling with former president Trump’s lawyers, the National Archives received 15 boxes containing legally protected documents. The presidential records act...
View ArticleThe Death of Historical Memory in Russia
Russia's Memorial International maintained an archive whose purpose was to amass and preserve the crimes against humanity committed in the Soviet Union. On March 3rd it was closed down by order of the...
View ArticlePutin And Ukraine As Seen By The Great-Granddaughter Of Soviet Leader Nikita...
When we can, we like to hear from experts with unique perspectives on the Russian war against Ukraine.On Today's Show:Nina Khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at The New School and the...
View Article'The Day After' for a New Generation
In 1983, 100 million Americans watched an ABC made-for-tv movie called The Day After, depicting the immediate fallout from a nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union. Tensions between the...
View ArticleThe Almost Astronaut
In the 1960s, the U.S. was in a tense space race with the Soviet Union - and was losing. The Soviets had sent the first satellite and the first man into space. So, President Kennedy pledged to do...
View ArticleProtests in China at the world’s largest Apple iPhone factory
Protests have erupted at the world's largest Apple iPhone factory in China over strict COVID-19 lockdowns, lack of pay and poor working conditions. And, when the Soviet Union ended, Western culture...
View ArticleOn the Run
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two gripping stories about people in flight. In Rebecca Makkai’s “The Briefcase,” performed by Victor Garber, an escaped prisoner assumes another man’s identity. In...
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