A Conversation with Mike McIntire
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
We’re a gun crazy country. There are more than 400 million guns in the U.S. That adds up to more guns than people. There are plenty of reasons for this. The Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to keep and bear arms. Firearms also served as practical tools for survival, hunting, and protection during the 1800s when American settlers pushed westward. Films like Dirty Harry, Rambo and The Terminator glorified super killers. Mike McIntire is a Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter at the NY Times. McIntire’s new book is called Ricochet: Guns, Greed and the American Way...
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A Conversation with Anthony Scaramucci
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
His nickname is the Mooch and he gained a place in history when he became the shortest-serving Communications Director in White House history after being on the job for 10 days. Scaramucci had known Trump for decades before joining the administration. Both were New Yorkers who traveled in prominent circles. Scaramucci had also made a fortune on Wall Street. The former White House Communications Director now considers Donald Trump a threat to democracy. He lays out his case in a new book called All the Wrong Moves. Anthony Scaramucci talks about his biggest mistakes, how his marriage...
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Gloria Steinem-An Exceptional Life
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
I’m so sad I now live in a world without Gloria Steinem. Unlike many public personalities, Gloria was the real deal: modest, warm, smart, funny. She took her passion for equality, women’s rights and human rights to a place that lit up the world. Gloria played a special role in my life: friend and mentor. She was the first guest on “Now What?” That was 11 years ago. We spoke in the brownstone she lived in since the ‘60s which is filled with objects she brought back from her travels around the world. Sitting in her living room, we chatted about her childhood, politics, feminism...
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A Conversation with Azar Nafisi
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
There’s a new film out called Reading Lolita in Tehran. It’s based on the best-selling book by Azar Nafisi who held a reading group in her home in Iran where female students met each week to read banned books like Madame Bovary and Lolita. Nafisi had gone back to the country where she was born in 1979, right after the revolution that deposed the Shah and installed the Islamic regime. She found herself teaching in a country where people who were opposed to the religious government were often imprisoned and executed. After 18 years, Nafisi and her family packed up their...
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A Conversation with Graydon Carter (Re-Release)
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
It’s the lazy days of August. So, if you missed it, here’s a second chance to listen to one of the best “Now What?” conversations of the year. Graydon Carter was the editor of Vanity Fair for 25 years. He’s also a world class yenta (and I mean that in the best sense of the word). Graydon knows everyone and he’s got dishy stories to tell about the most glamorous people. He was also sitting in the kingmaker seat in the golden days of glossy magazines ruling over a budget that could rival the gross national product of a small country. Black cars followed him everywhere. There were 2...
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A Conversation with Ada Ferrer
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
Ada Ferrer was born in Cuba. Her father fled the country after Fidel Castro marched into Havana. When Ferrer was a baby, her mother also left the country to join Ada’s father in NY. Ferrer grew up between two worlds in a family torn apart by the Cuban revolution. But she was lucky. She got a good education and became a Professor of History at Princeton University. In 2022, Ferrer was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her book about the five centuries of U.S.-Cuba relations. Ferrer’s memoir, Keeper of My Kin, explores separation, trauma and the heartbreak of families broken up by...
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A Conversation with Siri Hustvedt
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
Novelist Siri Hustvedt knows a lot about grief. Two years ago, her husband, the writer Paul Auster, died. They had an extraordinary life together as parents, romantic partners, and authors who shared their work. Hustvedt was devastated by Paul’s death. In her book Ghost Stories, she explores what happens when someone who has been your partner for more than 40 years disappears and how she remains haunted by his absence. Hustvedt also talks publicly for the first time about a family tragedy: the death of Paul’s son and their young granddaughter. In her Brooklyn brownstone overlooking...
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A conversation with Mary Alice Williams and Mary Murphy
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
I’ve always loved being a journalist and I’m excited to catch up with two of the best people in the business. Mary Alice Williams was there when CNN made history, becoming the first 24-hour news network. She was appointed CNN Vice president, making Williams one of the highest-ranking female executives in American television. Mary Murphy spent four decades at PIX 11 News reporting on mob hits, drug wars and the terror attacks on the World Trade center. The job of being a reporter has changed with the rise of social media. We talk about the importance of a free press and the contributions...
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A Conversation with Zayd Dohrn
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
Zayd Ayers Dohrn was born in a safe house during the decade his parents were in hiding. In 1969, Zayd’s mother and father, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, founded the revolutionary group called the Weather Underground. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover declared Bernadine the most dangerous woman in America. In their lives underground, Ayers and Dohrn committed acts of violence like bombing government buildings to call attention to the Vietnam war. They also gave birth to two children. Zayd has written a memoir of those years called Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young. We talk...
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A Conversation with Matthew Zachary
Now What? With Carole Zimmer
For Matthew Zachary, the subject of cancer is up close and personal. He was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor at the age of 21. Having survived the odds, Zachary became a patient advocate, founding a non-profit called Stupid Cancer which supports young adults with the disease. Zachary celebrated the publication of his memoir We the Patients, by sitting down at the piano on the stage of Manhattan’s Merkin Hall and playing a concert. The event marked the 30 years that have passed since Zachary’s cancer diagnosis. We talk about family, wellness and how to be a healthcare revolutionary. “Now...
info_outlinePicture this. It was my first job in radio. I decided to do a series about women and comedy. The idea coincided with the birth of Saturday Night Live. The first interview: Gilda Radner. We sat on the floor, right across from Studio 8H where the show is still performed. Gilda told me all about what life is like when you become an overnight star. Then I talked to Jane Curtin about people asking her for autographs when she walked her dog. Somehow, in those years I missed talking to Laraine Newman. But I finally just caught up with her. And she’s the star of this episode. It's an outrageous conversation about SNL and all the things that have happened to her since. Plus, you’ll hear what Gilda and Jane had to say from those early day sit-downs. “Now What?” is produced with help from Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.