Midday on WNYC

Eri Hotta considers the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective and argues that when Japan launched hostilities against the United States in 1941, its leaders largely understood they were entering a war they were almost certain to lose. Her book Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy poses an essential question: Why did these men—military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor—put their country and its citizens so unnecessarily in harm’s way? She draws on material little known to Western readers to find an answer.

Sociologist Michael Kimmel examines the demise of the white American male voter as a dominant force in the political landscape and the resulting increase in angry white men. In his book Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era, Kimmel locates this increase in anger in the economic, social and political shifts that have transformed the American landscape.  

Jared Leto discusses his role in “The Dallas Buyers Club.” He plays Rayon, a transsexual AIDS patient who helps establish a "buyers club," where H.I.V.-positive people pay monthly dues for access to non-approved medicines and supplements to treat AIDS.

Martin Cruz Smith talks about his new novel, Tatiana, featuring Arkady Renko, one of the iconic inves­tigators of contemporary fiction. Renko has survived the cultural journey from the Soviet Union to the New Russia, only to find the nation as obsessed with secrecy and brutality as was the old Communist dictatorship.

Reuters columnist David Rohde discusses John Kerry as Secretary of State. Rodhe’s article “John Kerry Will Not Be Denied” shows that while Kerry’s critics call him arrogant, undisciplined, and reckless,  his relentlessness in pursuit of negotiations might produce some of the most important diplomatic breakthroughs in years.

A 2001 study found that one in four tobacco workers suffers from acute nicotine poisoning, or “green tobacco sickness.” Gabriel Thompson looks at this illness and at why children are allowed to work in tobacco fields in this country—these hazards have led countries like Russia and Kazakhstan to ban anyone under 18 from harvesting tobacco, but no such prohibition exists here. Thompson’s article, reported in partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, “Leaves of Poison: Why Are Children Working in Tobacco Fields?” is in the December 2 issue of The Nation. He’ll be joined by Mariya Strauss, who has done extensive reporting on child labor laws in this country.

The Russian Empire once extended deep into America: in 1818 Russia’s furthest outposts were in California and Hawaii. The dreamer behind this great Imperial vision was Nikolai Rezanov – diplomat, adventurer, courtier, millionaire and gambler. In Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America, Owen Matthews gives an account of Rezanov’s quest to plant Russian colonies from Siberia to California led him to San Francisco.

Viennese soprano Martina Serafin discusses playing the leading role of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’s opera, “Der Rosenkavalier,” playing at the Metropolitan Opera. This season’s performances mark the 100th anniversary of the opera’s US premiere. The Marschallin is often described as opera’s first “cougar”—a married older woman whose complicated relationship with her teenage male lover, Octavian, forms the plot of the opera. This is her first time singing the role in New York or at the Met.

Nicholas Dawidoff talks about spending a year with the New York Jets—from early-morning quarterback meetings to late-night conversations. In Collision Low Crossers: A Year Inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football he describes the Combine, the draft, the practices, and the strategy meetings. He profiles the Jets' polarizing head coach, Rex Ryan, the general manager, the coaches, players like the cornerback Darrelle Revis, quarterback Mark Sanchez, and the safeties, linebackers, cornerbacks, and enthusiastic rookies who play the game.

We’re remembering the great and influential chef Charlie Trotter, who died on November 5, at the age of 54, by re-airing a conversation Leonard had with him in 2004. He spoke about Workin’: More Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter, a PBS series and cookbook in which he demonstrated his innovative cooking techniques and took us through his entire creative process.

Laura Catena talks about the wines and culture of Argentina. Vino Argentino: An Insider's Guide to the Wines and Wine Country of Argentina is part wine primer, part cultural exploration, and part introduction to the Argentine way of life.

Marcella Hazan, the cooking teacher and cookbook writer who taught a generation of American cooks that there’s more to Italian cooking that spaghetti and meatballs, died in September at the age of 89. We’re re-airing and interview Leonard did in 2008 with Marcella and Victor Hazan, who were discussing their collaborating on a memoir, called Amarcord: Marcella Remembers.

We’re re-airing a 2008 interview with Arthur Schwartz about Jewish food and cooking. He discussed his book Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited, which takes a fresh look at the traditional cuisine and updates some old family recipes.

Industrial hygienist and chemist Monona Rossol discusses a study showing that rich people and poor people have different toxic substances in their bodies. She's the author of Pick Your Poison: How Our Mad Dash to Chemical Utopia Is Making Lab Rats of Us All.

Curator Marilyn Kushner and exhibition historian and catalog editor/contributor Casey Blake, talk about “The Armory Show at 100: Modern Art and Revolution,” on view at the New-York Historical Society through February 23, 2014. The exhibition celebrates the centennial year of the legendary 1913 Armory Show, one of the most important art events and a turning point in American art, and brings together 100 masterworks from the show, including iconic pieces by Marcel Duchamp, Henri Matisse, Francis Picabia, Constantin Brancusi, Pablo Picasso and John Marin, and others.