KCUR Interviews
KCUR, Kansas City's local NPR station, hosts on its programs many of the authors and speakers that visit the Library. This page lists these interviews and provides links for you to listen to the programs.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
May 17, 2012
KU professors Steve Goddard and Perry Alexander examine the world of computer pioneer Alan Turing, subject of Cryptograph, an exhibit now on display at KU’s Spencer Museum of Art.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
April 16, 2012
The British Museum’s Roger Bland discusses the Treasure Act and Portable Antiquities Scheme, laws devised to protect the U.K.’s archaeological treasures from looting while compensating the individuals who discover them.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
April 11, 2012
In the second half of this program, author Wade Sisson discusses the efforts of the R.M.S. Olympic, the near-identical sister ship of the Titanic, to rescue victims of the famous oceanic disaster in April 1912.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
April 5, 2012
Biographer Justin Wolff examines the life and art of Missouri’s Thomas Hart Benton, whose distinctive style and views made him the object of both veneration and scorn.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 27, 2012
Nelson-Atkins conservator Paul Benson delves into the story behind some of Kansas City’s most popular fountains.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 22, 2012
Journalist and author Guy Gugliotta discusses his new book about the raising of the U.S. Capitol, a project meant to symbolize national unity even as the country slid ever closer to secession and Civil War.
Central Standard
March 21, 2012
Attica Locke discusses her novel Black Water Rising, about a Houston lawyer who saves a drowning woman and opens a Pandora’s Box of secrets that threaten the city’s power brokers.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 8, 2012
Landon Rowland examines the railroad-building efforts of Arthur Stilwell, which allowed Kansas City to enter the 20th century as one of the nation's most important transportation hubs.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 7, 2012
Preeminent historian Robert Dallek examines why some presidents succeed and others don’t by zeroing in on the vision, pragmatism, and charisma of leaders from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan.
Central Standard
March 6, 2012
University of Kansas historian Shawn Leigh Alexander looks at the forgotten men and women who in the late 19th century took up the cause of civil rights for African Americans.
Central Standard
February 21, 2012
Emiel Cleaver discusses his new documentary about the creation and decades-long activism of Freedom, Inc., Kansas City’s pioneering African American political organization.
Central Standard
February 9, 2012
In his new memoir playwright/novelist/poet Zakes Mda recalls his coming of age under South African apartheid and his love of jazz, comic books, political discourse and writing.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
February 6, 2012
Just in time for Valentine’s Day: UMKC’s Jennifer Phegley provides insights into Victorian “dating” and wedding practices that continue to be embraced by modern brides and grooms…and asks if the Victorians’ ideas about romantic have left us with unhealthy expectations.
Central Standard
February 1, 2012
In the second half of this program, Lee Ward, owner of the Museum of Funeral History in Independence, discusses 150 years of African American funeral homes and the black community’s historic emphasis on end-of-life rituals.
Central Standard
January 24, 2012
In the second half of this program, Robert Litan discusses the life and art of his father, David Israel Litan, whose lithographs portraying scenes of Kansas and aspects of Jewish life and faith sold widely throughout the Sunflower State during his lifetime, most of which was spent in Wichita.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
January 11, 2012
Former VP of CIGNA Wendell Potter explains how insurance companies make promises they have no intention of keeping, flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and skew political debate with multibillion-dollar PR campaigns.
Central Standard
December 29, 2011
Retired Special Agent Jeff Lanza tells the real stories behind the headlines of some of the highest profile FBI cases investigated in Kansas City.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
December 5, 2011
Author Isaac Getz uses real world examples to show that innovation rises as often from the factory floor as from the corner office and explains how companies can ensure that no good idea goes unnoticed.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
December 1, 2011
Barron H. Lerner – professor of medicine and public health at Columbia University – discusses his new book One for the Road and explains why, after decades of warning, people continue to drink and drive.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
November 14, 2011
Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Michael Dirda presents an insider’s account of The Baker Street Irregulars – an association of Holmes fanatics who delight in playful scholarship relating to the most famous detective of all time.
KC Currents
November 13, 2011
The Brainzooming Group presents ideas for how the Google Fiber gigabit broadband network can benefit schools, colleges, medical centers, urban and suburban neighborhoods, and the everyday lives of all Kansas Citians.
Also on the program, the Bach Aria Soloists bring to life the drama of the cherished children’s classic Ferdinand the Bull with music by English composer Alan Ridout, performed by violinist Elizabeth Suh Lane and further interpreted by actor Stuart Rider.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
November 9, 2011
Celebrated actor Hal Holbrook discusses his beautifully moving new memoir, Harold: The Boy Who Became Mark Twain.
The Walt Bodine Show
November 4, 2011
The Kansas City Star’s Darryl Levings discusses his new historical novel, Saddle the Pale Horse, following Price’s Raid in 1864 from the day forces crossed the border from Arkansas to the battles of Westport and Mine Creek.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
October 21, 2011
The Kansas City Star’s Steve Paul discusses his new book, a collection of “KC Architecture A-Z” columns that have appeared in Star Magazine. The book contains more than 200 photographs of Kansas City’s architectural scene.
Central Standard
October 18, 2011
Central Standard, the award-winning KCUR morning program, hosts a variety show to commemorate the one-year anniversary of its inception, live at the Central Library.
The Walt Bodine Show
October 14, 2011
Reporter Brian Burnes and Katz family descendant Steve Katz discuss the history of Katz Drug Stores in their new book The Kings of Cut-Rate: The Very American Story of Isaac and Michael Katz.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
October 7, 2011
Daniel Woodrell discusses his new collection of short stories, The Outlaw Album, in a public conversation with Kansas City author Whitney Terrell.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
October 6, 2011
Caldecott Medal Winner Brian Selznick discusses his latest book Wonderstruck. A percentage of the book's sales will be donated to the Turning the Page effort for Joplin public schools.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
September 27, 2011
From hilarious scenes from his youth to the present state his parents helped create, Frank Schaeffer asks what the leading right-wingers and the paranoid fantasies of their “echo chamber” are really about. Here’s a hint…sex.
The Walt Bodine Show
September 23, 2011
Award-winning historian William C. Harris argues that Confederate campaigns and guerrilla activities during the Civil War kept the border states in constant turmoil, and that this region preoccupied Lincoln throughout the war.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
September 22, 2011
In the second half of this program, columnist and political commentator John Avlon discusses the history of the American newspaper column and shares his views on where the newspaper industry is headed in what has proven to be a tumultuous period for all media.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
September 21, 2011
In the second half of this program, Jack Becker, executive director of Minnesota-based Forecast Public Art and publisher of Public Art Review, discusses the complex, beneficial, and sometimes contentious role that art plays in the public realm.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
September 20, 2011
The Social Media Club of Kansas City discusses how Google Fiber high-speed internet can impact the city’s infrastructure, economy, educational systems, and beyond.
Central Standard
September 14, 2011
In the second half of this program of this program, Daniel Serda reports his findings on immigration, discrimination, and preservation of Hispanic culture.
The Walt Bodine Show
September 2, 2011
Author Carolyn Brewer discusses the 1957 tornado that killed 39 people and left 531 injured and shares first-person narratives collected during a 50-year reunion and memorial rededication.
Central Standard
August 24, 2011
In the first part of this program, Kansas City natives Michael Herzmark and Melissa Wayne discuss their documentary on Selma as a microcosm of the issues facing America today.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
August 10, 2011
Historian Terry Beckenbaugh marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Wilson's Creek and explains how Confederate forces won the battle but lost the state.
Central Standard
July 28, 2011
In the second half of this program, Boulevard Brewing Company founder John McDonald explores how his award-winning company became the largest craft brewer in the Midwest and the largest independent American brewer in Missouri.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
July 15, 2011
On the 30th Anniversary of Kansas City's Hyatt Regency hotel walkway collapse, Steve Kraske discusses the causes of the structural failure, the rescue efforts, and the many lessons learned.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
July 1, 2011
Emory University historian Deborah E. Lipstadt examines the May 1960 capture of SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and his subsequent trial that electrified the world.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
June 28, 2011
Tom Wilson discusses Ziggy and the new book celebrating the 40th anniversary of the comic strip.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
June 24, 2011
Renowned gardening expert Ethne Clarke discusses her book Hidcote, which tells the story of Hidcote Manor Garden, one of the most influential English gardens of the 20th century.
Central Standard
June 21, 2011
DePaul University political scientist Larry Bennett discusses some of our commonly held ideas about the "Windy City" with the goal of better understanding modern-day Chicago.
Central Standard
June 16, 2011
Johnnieque Blackmon Love and Chester Owens, two of the authors of The Sumner Story, discuss the inspiring stories of graduates from the formerly segregated black high school in Kansas City, Kansas.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
June 2, 2011
National Public Radio commentator Andrei Codrescu discusses his new book Whatever Gets You Through the Night, a retelling of the classic Arabian Nights.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
June 1, 2011
Professor David Meyers discusses the surgical techniques used during the Civil War as well as the predominance of disease as a cause of death.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
May 23, 2011
Noted humorist Roy Blount, Jr. discusses Alphabetter Juice, the follow up to the critically acclaimed Alphabet Juice.
The Walt Bodine Show
May 20, 2011
Historians Gary Kremer and Mark Hersey discuss the life of renowned scientist and teacher George Washington Carver.
Central Standard
May 16, 2011
Award-winning author Mariko Nagai discusses her new collection of short stories based on Japanese folk tales and history.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
May 5, 2011
On the 50th anniversary of Alan Shepard’s pioneering space mission Roger D. Launius of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum discusses the legacy of Project Mercury and America’s first astronauts.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
May 4, 2011
Gregorio Luke discusses the Battle of Puebla in 1862, currently commemorated in Cinco de Mayo celebrations each year.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
May 3, 2011
Matthew Algeo discusses his new book, The President is a Sick Man, the first full account of President Grover Cleveland’s disappearance on a yacht in 1893 and the medical condition that necessitated it.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
April 25, 2011
Historian David Goldfield discusses his narrative history of the Civil War, America Aflame, which offers the first major new interpretation of the era in 20 years.
Central Standard
April 14, 2011
Longtime FBI agent Bill Ouseley discusses his new book, Mobsters in our Midst, about the family that ruled organized crime in Kansas City for three decades.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 29, 2011
Acclaimed Purdue University historian and biographer Randy Roberts discusses the life and career of boxing icon Joe Louis.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 21, 2011
The Kansas City, MO, Mayoral Runoff Debate is broadcast live from the Plaza Branch, featuring candidates Mike Burke and Sly James.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 9, 2011
Paula McLain discusses her new novel, The Paris Wife, which captures a period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable figures – Ernest Hemingway and his first wife in Paris in the 1920s.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 7, 2011
Historian Sir Max Hastings discusses the final year of World War II in the Pacific and his book, Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
March 1, 2011
Curator Dee Harris discusses the new National Archives exhibit commemorating the 150th anniversary of Kansas statehood – Cowboys, Quacks, and Carousels: Stories of Kansas.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
February 28, 2011
Authors David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut talk about their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published.
Central Standard
February 23, 2011
Harvard professor and Kansas City native Robert Mnookin discusses his book, Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
February 21, 2011
The Kansas City, MO Mayoral Primary Debate is broadcasted live from the Plaza Branch.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
January 19, 2011
Historian Bob Moore discusses the documentary Games which explores the life of Lamar Hunt, original owner of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Up to Date with Steve Kraske
January 12, 2011
Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert Bixby and Midwest Regional Director Sara Imhof discuss bipartisan solutions to America’s fiscal problems.
KC Currents
January 9, 2011
Historian Diane Mutti Burke discusses her new book, On Slavery’s Border: Missouri’s Small Slaveholding Households, 1815-1865, about slavery in Missouri and how it differed, for better or worse, from slavery in the Deep South.
