Louisa Thomas on a Ballplayer’s Epic Final Game; Plus, Remembering the Composer of “Annie”

Louisa Thomas on a Ballplayer’s Epic Final Game; Plus, Remembering the Composer of “Annie”

In honor of The New Yorker’s centennial this year, the magazine’s staff writers are pulling out some classics from the long history of the publication. Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker’s sports correspondent, naturally gravitated to a story about baseball with a title only comprehensible to baseball aficionados: “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.” The essay was by no less a writer than the author John Updike, and the “Kid” of the title was Ted Williams, the Hall of Fame hitter who spent nineteen years on the Boston Red Sox. By happenstance, Updike joined the crowd at Fenway Park for Williams’s last game before his retirement, in 1960. Thomas, looking at subtle word changes that Updike made as he was working on the piece, reflects on the writer’s craft and the ballplayer’s. “Marginal differences really matter,” she says. “And it’s those marginal differences that are the difference between a pop-up, a long fly, and a home run. Updike really understood that, and so did Williams.”

Plus, a visit with one of the great modern practitioners of the earworm, Charles Strouse, who wrote music for “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Annie,” and the theme to “All in the Family.” Strouse died this month at ninety-six. In one of his last interviews he gave, in 2023, he spoke with the Radio Hour’s Jeffrey Masters about his rivalry with Stephen Sondheim. “Stephen and I were friendly enemies. He didn’t like me much. I didn’t like him less.”

New Yorker Radio Hour listeners, we want to hear from you. We have a few questions about the show and how you listen to it. The survey takes about twenty minutes, and your feedback will help us make our podcast better. Take the survey here.

Episoder(1021)

Is Cuba Trump’s Next Target?

Is Cuba Trump’s Next Target?

The staff writer Jon Lee Anderson has reported from Cuba for many years, and recently wrote about the deteriorating economic conditions on the island. His newest piece for the magazine dives into the ...

20 Mar 33min

Chloé Zhao on “Hamnet,” Which Is Nominated for Eight Academy Awards

Chloé Zhao on “Hamnet,” Which Is Nominated for Eight Academy Awards

Chloé Zhao became only the second woman to win an Oscar for Best Director, for 2020’s “Nomadland,” and she is nominated once again for “Hamnet,” starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. Based on Maggi...

15 Mar 22min

Social Media Goes to Court

Social Media Goes to Court

In the book “The Anxious Generation,” Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, argues that social-media platforms are detrimental to youths’ well-being, and that society needs to ...

13 Mar 28min

Ryan Coogler on “Sinners,” His Epic Film about Race, Music, and the Undead

Ryan Coogler on “Sinners,” His Epic Film about Race, Music, and the Undead

When the Oscar nominations were announced this year, Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” set a record. It received sixteen nominations, the most for any film ever. The fact that it’s, in part, a vampire movie, m...

10 Mar 19min

The Global Fallout of Donald Trump’s War on Iran

The Global Fallout of Donald Trump’s War on Iran

As Iran’s retaliation hit American allies throughout the Middle East this week, David Remnick was joined by two New Yorker writers with decades of experience reporting from the region. Robin Wright ha...

6 Mar 31min

Failed “Finance Bros” Find Success with HBO’s “Industry”

Failed “Finance Bros” Find Success with HBO’s “Industry”

David Remnick sits down with Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, the creators of a show he loves, “Industry,” which is currently airing its fourth season. The show is centered on the financial and personal dr...

1 Mar 16min

What Could Go Wrong, or Right, in a War with Iran

What Could Go Wrong, or Right, in a War with Iran

As Donald Trump and his Administration threaten to attack Iran, their motivations remain unclear. Does the President want to force Iran to make a nuclear deal, to replace the one that he scrapped in h...

27 Feb 34min

The Evidence on Ozempic to Treat Addiction

The Evidence on Ozempic to Treat Addiction

Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs have had a major impact in their short time on the market—currently, one in eight Americans say that they have been on GLP-1 drugs. As tens of millions of people take the...

24 Feb 19min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
forklart
aftenpodden-usa
popradet
stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
det-store-bildet
rss-gukild-johaug
nokon-ma-ga
dine-penger-pengeradet
fotballpodden-2
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
rss-ness
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
bt-dokumentar-2