25 min listen
Ernest J. Gaines: Letters of My Ancestors
FromWhat It Takes®
ratings:
Length:
38 minutes
Released:
Nov 6, 2017
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Ernest Gaines grew up in the 1930's and 40's on the same Louisiana plantation where his ancestors were once slaves. After he became a successful and celebrated novelist, he returned, bought the land, and lives there even now. The voices he heard as a child, telling stories on the porch or around the fire, are the voices that populate his novels: " A Lesson Before Dying," "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," "A Gathering of Old Men," and others. In this episode, Gaines describes the path that led him from picking cotton, to falling in love with literature, to writing award-winning novels. At the same time, he shares his profound feelings about the limitations of that success.
Released:
Nov 6, 2017
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Jonas Salk: Vanquisher of Polio: Before Jonas Salk created the Polio vaccine, thousands of children died every year or were left paralyzed by the virus (adults too). In 1952 alone, there were 58,000 cases in the United States. When news of the discovery was made public on April 12, 1955, Jonas Salk was hailed as a miracle worker. He further endeared himself to the public by refusing to patent the vaccine. He had no desire to profit personally from the discovery, but merely wished to see the vaccine disseminated as widely as possible. The interview with Dr. Salk featured in this episode was recorded in 1991. In it, Salk talks about being the child of uneducated immigrants, and carving his own path to medical school and eventually virology -- a specialty that didn't exist when he began as a researcher. He discusses the anti-semitic quotas he had to overcome, as well as the doubt and scorn of many of his peers. But he also describes the transformation and relief his polio vaccine brou by What It Takes®