Topic: Law

Journalist Katherine Zoepf (zohf) covered the Middle East for The New York Times between 2004 and 2010. And she says the reality is much more nuanced than the views of the region commonly held in the US. Illinois Public Media’s Amanda Honigfort talked with Zoepf about the stories shared in her recent book "Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of the Young Women Who are Transforming the Arab World."

This year, the Magna Carta will turn 800 years old. The document, literally “Great Charter” when translated from Latin, is revered as the founding document of western democracy. Its language is found in many later key political documents including the US constitution and the Bill of Rights. But when Dan Jones dug into its history he found a very different story than we assume. Illinois Public Media's Amanda Honigfort talked with Jones about what he found. 

Sara Paretsky knows mystery writing. She's the author of the long-running, New York Times-bestselling V.I. Warshawski series. As the latest book hits shelves, she talked with us about Chicago's influence on her life and work and how the mystery genre has changed over the past 30 years. 

David Hoffman details the story of Adolf Tolkachev, the most valuable Soviet spy during the Cold War, and the CIA agents he passed hundreds of thousands of pages of information to in his new book – the Billion Dollar Spy. 

John W. Dean talks about his book on Watergate, "The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It" which bills itself as the complete story of the Watergate break-in and cover-up, and discloses Nixon’s part in it.

Ken Paulson speaks about issues ranging from the importance of the First Amendment and its future, to the Steven Salaita case, to the future of journalism in the digital age. 

On Sunday, the red carpet will be rolled out for the Academy Awards and Illinois will have a significant presence. We’ll explore those connections beginning with Helen Estabrook, Champaign-Urbana native and the producer of Whiplash could take home as many as five Academy Awards. Finding Vivian Maier is a Chicago story written and directed by a Chicagoan. It could win best documentary….and find itself in copyright trouble. We’ll cover all that and more but first in this WILL special: Illinois at the Oscars