Underreported: China's Gulag Prison System (The Leonard Lopate Show: Thursday, 19 November 2009) from Lopate - Underreported by listenerservices@wnyc.org (WNYC, New York Public Radio)

President Obama was in China this week and he did speak out on the country’s human rights record. On today’s first Underreported segment, we’re taking a look at China’s expansive prison system, formerly called Laogai. We’ll examine how it was modeled after the Soviet gulag system and the accusations that forced labor is used in the camps. We’ll speak with Harry Wu, founder of the Laogai Research Foundation and Nicole Kempton, who edited the foundation’s book Laogai: The Machinery of Repression in China.

The podcast can be downloaded here, or streamed here.

Abnegate (Dictionary.com's Word of the Day)

1.To refuse or deny oneself; to reject; to renounce.
2. To give up (rights, claims, etc.); to surrender; to relinquish.
Quotes:
An exaggerated veneration for an exceptional individual will allow worshippers "to abnegate responsibility, looking to the great man for salvation or for fulfilment" that we should work out for ourselves.
-- Christina Hardyment, "The intoxicating allure of great men" review of Heroes: Saviors Traitors and Supermen by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Independent , October 19, 2004
Adrift and divided, lacking intelligent leadership from the White House, the members of Congress have chosen to abnegate their constitutional responsibility in the hope that the blunt, crude mechanism of Gramm-Rudman will compensate for the failure of political will.
-- Evan Thomas, "Look Ma! No hands!'", Time , December 23, 1985
Feed no more blossoms
to the wind, abnegate the constellations,
negate the sea and what is left
of your world? What is left then?
-- Alessandra Lynch, "Excommunication", American Poetry Review , July/August 2003

Read the full entry here. See also: Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams and Distortions, Heroes: A History of Hero Worship, Cleopatra: The First Woman of Power

The Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Charlie Rose Conversation with Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell discusses his latest book "What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures" CHARLIE ROSE: Malcolm Gladwell is here. He is the bestselling author of "The Tipping Point," "Blink," and "Outliers." After starting his career at the "American Prospect" at "The Washington Post" he moved to "The New Yorker" magazine in 1996. Since then, his unique blend of analysis and storytelling has been widely emulated. Now he has compiled 19 of his favorite "New Yorker" pieces into this single volume. It is called -- what a great title -- "What the Dog Saw." I’m pleased to have him here at the table again. Welcome. MALCOLM GLADWELL: Thank you, Charlie.

See that full interview here. See also: Outliers: The Story of Success, What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

"Street style from The Sartorialist" from PRI's The Sound of Young America

Photographs from the popular street fashion photography blog, The Sartorialist, now published in a new book. One of America's most popular fashion bloggers, Scott Schuman is the creator of the street fashion photography blog, The Sartorialist. His new book of the same name collects some of his favorite photos from the blog. His subjects range from Hasidim on the streets of New York to garment industry insiders in Milan. Schuman worked in the fashion industry for some time before picking up a camera. He owned a showroom that sold fashion collections into major department stores. By the time he was a teenager, Schuman knew he wanted to work in fashion, and while he was limited by geography, he was able to pursue his passion through the retail side of the business. "Where I grew up in Indiana, there was no fashion business, there really was no fashion. So, the romantic idea of that world was great. I loved the romance of that kind of idea. I didn't know any designers growing up. I didn't know what that lifestyle was like.

Download The Sound of Young America podcast here. Of course, all of the fashion blogs are ablaze and giddy over the book. For example, the Fashion Bomb blog, blogged this:

So any of my friends will tell you that I have a serious weakness for fashion and literature. My shelves and drawers are overflowing with clothes and tons and tons of books on anything from art and history to fantasy. Whilst perusing the selection at W.H. Smith, a local English bookstore, I was of course driven to distraction by all the amazing offerings in the fashion section. I’ve been a fan of the Sartorialist‘s blog for a long time, and see Scott Schuman at every fashion week. Though I could just as easily look at all his hottest street looks online, I decided to pick up his book…and couldn’t put it down.

Check that post out, here. See also: FASHION BLOGS, Characterising Successful Fashion Blogs and Their Evaluation Metrics, Photo Fashion Book - Rosemount Australian by Fashion Media, Blogs: Slashdot, Blog, Bloggingheads.tv, Xanga, Digg, Gucci Gang controversy, Sousveillance, Fashion blog, EPIC FU, History of blogging

The Twitter Book from Slashdot: Book Reviews by samzenpus

stoolpigeon writes "Microblogging service Twitter has undeniably been a hit, with growth rates that were at times in excess of 1400%. The growth was rapid enough that the site became well known for its periodic, and, at times, extensive downtime. Even with these issues, the service continued to grow rapidly, and with celebrities getting into the mix Twitter was quickly on the radar of mainstream media. The ubiquity of Twitter and ever-increasing coverage of 'tweets' has also brought the inevitable backlash. As with anything that gains high-profile popularity, there are plenty of Twitter haters out there, though the role Twitter has played in the recent Iranian elections seems to have brought more legitimacy to Twitter in the eyes of many. With popularity come books, and quite a few are already out there about and for Twitter, but my favorite so far is The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein."

Read the rest of JR's review here.

NYT: Book Review for 10/09/2009 from NYT Book Review

This week, a conversation with Maureen Dowd about Dan Brown's new novel, "The Lost Symbol"; Motoko Rich has notes from the field; Times business reporter Peter Goodman talks about the state of the economy; and Jennifer Schuessler has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

Download the podcast here. See also: The Lost Symbol, Deception Point