Secular Sunday

Lectures, music and readings of classical literature designed to escape the bread and circus of spectator sport extravaganzas tjhat dominate American popular media.

Note: There is a ten minute gap between the book discussion and the Libris Vox readings. I apologize for this delay.

From the program summary by New Books Network host Marshall Poe:

"Most people who listen to this podcast will have heard of Joseph McCarthy and HUAC (The House Committee on Un-American Activities). His activities and those of HUAC were, however, only the tip of a very large iceberg. In the 1940s and 1950s, the U.S. government conducted something like a “purge” of federal employees with leftist pasts. Thousands of federal workers were invested and hundreds (at least) were terminated. In The Second Red Scare and the Unmaking of the New Deal Left (Princeton UP, 2012), Landon Storrs tells this untold (and very disturbing) story. Listen in.

The climactic section of Winston Churchill's The River War detailing the Battle of Omduran will be read by a Libris Vox volunteer today.  From a pertinent part of the books summary: 

" ... The young Churchill was hot to gain war experience to aid his career, and so he wangled a transfer to the 21st Lancers and participated in the last successful cavalry charge the world ever saw, in the climactic battle of Omdurman. ... "

Harpsichord music is provided by the kind permission of Joyce Har Lindorff.