Topic: Politics

Michael Chrzastowski worked for years as a geologist at the University of Illinois. Instead of retirement, however, he decided to pursue a second career in religion. Now, the Lutheran helps Christians better understand Islam. 

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."

A new governor.  A long-time House speaker.  Court-ordered state spending.  It all adds up to a year unlike any other in the state of Illinois' history.  Illinois Public Media's Brian Moline talks about 2015 in state politics with Statehouse Bureau Chief Amanda Vinicky.

Bill Maher brings his standup comedy to the Virginia Theatre on Sunday night, but it's his "politically incorrect" work on television that has kept him in the spotlight.

The Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, William Adams, is in Champaign-Urbana today. He stopped by WILL to talk with Illinois Public Media's Amanda Honigfort about the role the humanities play in the United States and several initiatives the NEH is undertaking. 

Former Republican Congressman and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is pushing for more bipartisanship in Washington, D.C.  He spoke with Illinois Public Media's Brian Moline about the need for bipartisanship and other national topics.

NPR’s Tom Gjelten talked with Illinois Public Media’s Amanda Honigfort about how his new book, Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story, chronicles not only how we’ve reached that point, but also tells the stories of some of those immigrants. 

Conventional wisdom says there’s never been a better time to be a woman. For the first time in U.S. History, women make up half of the educated labor force and are earning the majority of advanced degrees. Not so fast. Caryl Rivers says if you look more closely, women now must fight what she dubs the “New Soft War on Women.” That’s the title of a new book she wrote with Rosalind Barnett, just out in paperback. 

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.