Reading & Empathy
Arts & Ideas4 Loka 2024

Reading & Empathy

"I never read novels" is something you hear people say. What is the point of reading - be it histories or fiction? Does it help us empathize with the situation of other people or shed insights into our historical moment? With the news story that university students these days are, apparently, unaccustomed to reading entire books, cover to cover, favouring excerpts, abridgements, and introductions and ahead of the biggest date in the publishing calendar (Super Thursday on Oct 10th) Shahidha Bari is joined by novelist Elif Shafak - winner of the British Academy's President's Medal, her latest novel is called There Are Rivers in the Sky; journalist Gabriel Gatehouse - host of the podcast and Radio 4 series The Coming Storm; New Generation Thinkers Janine Bradbury - a poet, and Jonathan Egid - a philosopher; Tiffany Watt Smith - a historian of emotions and author of a book on schadenfreude and by the historian of China Professor Rana Mitter - chair of the judges for this year's Cundill History Prize. The winner will be announced on October 30th and the books in contention are: Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights by Dylan C. Penningroth

Producer: Luke Mulhall

Jaksot(2000)

WOLVES

WOLVES

Wolves were once hunted and persecuted to the point of near extinction but are now enjoying a come back across Europe, if not the UK. What can explain the way they've been targeted, and even demonised...

23 Touko 202556min

Political Visions

Political Visions

What is the role of vision in politics? Must politicians have a vision of what kind of society they’re working towards, ultimately? What kind of role does this vision play in the day-to-day practice o...

16 Touko 202556min

Peace

Peace

On the 8th May 1945, the Allies declared victory over Nazi Germany. How has war and the threat of war shaped society in the intervening years? Do 'war' and 'peace' mean the same things, 80 years on? M...

9 Touko 202556min

Community

Community

Post local elections and pre VE day anniversary events across the UK, Shahidha Bari explores ideas about community. Mike Savage, Professor of Sociology at the LSE, explains how social capital enables ...

2 Touko 202556min

Decadence

Decadence

Some people think we live in an age of decline. Matthew Sweet investigates, with guests including political journalist Tim Stanley, art critic Louisa Buck, Professor Jane Desmarais who is head of the ...

25 Huhti 202556min

The Middle Classes

The Middle Classes

Matthew Sweet and guests discuss the impact of the shifting geo political and economic trends on the British class system with specialist guests. Muriel Zagha is a writer and critic and Author of Find...

28 Maalis 202556min

Isolation

Isolation

As Radio 4 marks the 5th anniversary of the first COVID lockdown, Free Thinking investigates one of the defining experiences of that period for many people: isolation. It's a word that entered the Eng...

21 Maalis 202556min

Evidence

Evidence

Matthew Sweet and his guests discuss our shifting relationship with evidence from the law, to science, academic study and the paranormal. He's joined by Uncanny TV presenter Danny Robins, the former S...

14 Maalis 202557min

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