Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Do the Japanese Want Obama to Apologize for Hiroshima?
President Obama will visit Hiroshima, but he will not apologize for the atomic bombing of the city. Plus, what scientists have learned about radiation exposure in the more than seventy years since.
By Madeleine Brand • • 52m ListenPresident Obama will be the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima, but the White House has made it clear that he will not apologize for the atomic bombing of the city more than 70 years ago. How do the Hiroshima survivors and their descendants feel about that?
Also, the long-term effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings have been studied by Japanese and American scientists for decades. Their research has formed the basis for radiation exposure guidelines all over the world.
Then, billionaire Peter Thiel secretly funded Hulk Hogan’s $140 million invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Gawker; but he’s not the only person secretly backing a lawsuit. The practice of litigation finance is becoming more common.
Next, Jill Lepore set out to find out if Joe Gould’s oral history – a nine-million word magnum opus that would be the longest book ever written - really existed. The result is her new book, Joe Gould’s Teeth.
And finally, LA’s public transit woes are nothing to what some Northeast commuters are facing.
Banner Image: Atomic cloud over Hiroshima, taken from "Enola Gay" flying over Matsuyama, Shikoku; Credit: 509th Operations Group
In this episode
5 storiesDo Hiroshima Survivors and their Descendants Want Obama to Apologize?
President Obama will be the first U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, Japan on Friday. He’s expected to push for a nuclear-free world while touring the city’s Peace Memorial, but the White House has made it clear that the President will not apologize for the atomic bombing of the city on Aug. 6, 1945.
Read the story10 minWhat Scientists Have Learned From the Bombing of Hiroshima
Whether the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified has been debated for decades . And the long-term effects of the bombings have been studied for years by scientists. For decades, teams of American and Japanese scientists have collaborated to gather information about radiation and its health impacts.
Read the story9 minPeter Thiel, Revenge and Litigation Finance
Peter Thiel is a man of many interests. He made billions of dollars as a co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook. Lately he’s been spreading the wealth in interesting ways.
Read the story8 minHow Joe Gould Lost His Teeth – and His Oral History
In 1942, New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell profiled an eccentric named Joe Gould. In it, Mitchell revealed that Gould, a Harvard-educated Greenwich Village bohemian, was writing a magnum opus – something that had never been done – a nine-million word Oral History of Our Time that would be the longest book ever written.
Read the story16 minNortheast Public Transit Problems
Los Angeles Metro riders faced longer commutes Monday after a car crashed through a fence onto the tracks of the Expo Line. Service was disrupted until the car could be towed away. As far as transportation woes go, that was nothing. In Washington D.C.
Read the story9 min
