Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
We cover the Norco shootout of 1980 – an extravagant bank robbery by five heavily armed criminals ending in multiple lives lost, several wounded and a police helicopter shot down from the sky. We speak with author, Peter Houlahan about that fateful day and how it forever changed police response to organized crime.
Cookie cutter houses, large backyards and shopping centers took hold during the rapid rise of suburbia during the second half of the 20th century. Now, towns across the U.S. are facing a new set of challenges from climate change to shifting demographics that require a different landscape than what was first constructed. We speak with two experts about the …
Author Jared Yates Sexton shares memories from his own turbulent childhood and accounts as a journalist and connects it to the larger discussion around the phenomenon of toxic masculinity in the U.S. What exactly is toxic masculinity and how is it affecting men and youth?
The first U.S. case of the plague presented in the early 1900’s in San Francisco. We speak with author, David Randall about the outbreak and how it changed sanitation practices and government response.
How we buy our food has drastically changed throughout the decades. We discuss the evolution of the grocery marketplace from local grocers to big-box retailers and how this has affected the production chain. More so, how food co-ops operate and aim to help support local farmers and communities.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Mark Obmascik shares the incredible story of two men fighting for opposing sides and tangled in the complexities of World War II in his book The Storm on Our Shores: One Island, Two Soldiers, and the Forgotten Battle of World War II.
School lunches in the U.S. have long been overlooked. Dan Giusti, the former head chef of Noma and founder of Brigaid, is gaining ground in his efforts to overhaul the school lunch system and bring scratch cooking back into cafeterias. We speak with Giusti about his journey from fine dining to lunch reform and some of the barriers facing Brigaid.
We all know the names of famous First Ladies – Martha Washington, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan – and they all left their marks on our country in one way or another. One of these ladies that you probably don’t know much about is Louisa Adams, wife of President John Quincy Adams. Our guest has researched this extraordinary woman and …
Everyone knows about the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but not many know about the powerful and loyal confidant FDR relied on, Marguerite “Missy” LeHand. Our guest discusses the life and work of this remarkable woman and how she helped and influenced one of the greatest chief executives of our time.
Horror movies are major box office. Some experts see the film “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” as a turning point. One reason is the Gill Man character, created by an often overlooked female trailblazer in monster design, Millicent Patrick. An author who has researched Patrick discusses her significance in American culture and the horror film genre.
Statues commemorating the Confederacy remain in some towns in the US South, though its principles promoting slavery and oppression of blacks are in disrepute. Some towns have removed these statues in the face of heavy opposition. A former Mayor of New Orleans describes how his thinking evolved toward a decision to remove the statues in his city, and the …
On April 20, 1999, Sue Klebold’s son and his friend went into Columbine High School and committed one of the largest mass shootings in US history. Over the last 18 years, Klebold has been forced to cope with this horrible tragedy while managing anxiety attacks and being blamed by so many. Klebold talks about her story and the mental health messages she wants …
From Pirates of the Caribbean and Captain Hook to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, pirates have a real foothold in our culture. But their history is anything but a fairy tale. Historian Eric Jay Dolin joins the show to discuss some of the most notorious real-life pirates to ever life.
Women have served in the US military dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Back then, they had to lie about their sex and their names in order to get enlist, but some did. Now, combat positions are open to women. We discuss the vital role women have played in America’s military might.
Christmas 1941 came just weeks after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor dragged America into World War II. We talk to historian Stanley Weintraub about how America was getting ready for war while trying to celebrate the holiday season.
Over 95 years ago, New York City was the target of a terrorist attack that has yet to be solved. No suspects have ever been named in the attack that killed or injured over 400 Wall Street bystanders. In contrast to the attacks of September 11th, which occurred just around the corner from the 1920 bombing, this deadly event has been all but erased from the …
Sarah Smarsh is a journalist and author who grew up poor on a farm in Kansas. She discusses life in rural America, how our culture treats people living in poverty, and the causes she attributes to America’s wage gap.
There are millions incarcerated in American prisons, even many juveniles who were sentenced to long terms alongside adults. We talk to guests about how and why this happens, whether it should continue, and what life is like for young people behind bars.
Sometimes, classifying art in one specific genre can be tricky. Look at Star Wars. It’s a space opera, sure. But what does that mean? It was built to be a Western. And sci-fi. With some fantasy aspects? And who is the intended audience? Is it for kids? Teenagers? Adults? All of the above? That can be the difficulty in classification.
We know so much about the men of the Civil War, but the women from the war are all but forgotten in our history. Historian Karen Abbott decided to change that. She tells the story of several women who helped their sides during the Civil War.
American Animals is a film that tells the true story of four college kids who stole millions of dollars in rare books from a library in broad daylight. I first saw the trailer in March and it has been on my radar ever since. I was intrigued to see a stylish heist movie starring some exciting up and comers like American Horror Story’s Evan Peters and …
We have all heard of polygraph machines or ‘lie detectors.’ But are they truly reliable? Their results are inadmissible in court and yet some investigation agencies still use them. We talk to historian and author John Philipp Baesler about the polygraph’s history and its questionable use in our modern world.
Though Apollo 11 gets all the fame and Apollo 13 was made into a thrilling Ron Howard movie, author and historian Jeffrey Kluger says the Apollo 8 mission was a foundational trip for American space exploration. He takes us through the mission and examines what it meant for NASA moving forward.
When people discuss “the immigrant narrative,” you may picture Ellis Island. But what is that process like today? We talk to two writers about the more modern immigrant journey.
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