When the Twin Towers fell, Elizabeth Greenspan was a 24-year-old graduate student in urban studies in New York City. She was interested in how cities rebuild after catastrophes, like Hiroshima and she began to chronicle Ground Zero while the ruins were still smouldering. Her new book, The Battle For Ground Zero, chronicles the years of struggle and conflict during which New Yorkers fought over what should replace the World Trade Center.

When the Twin Towers fell, Elizabeth Greenspan was a 24-year-old graduate student in urban studies in New York City. She was interested in how cities rebuild after catastrophes, like Hiroshima and she began to chronicle and she started reporting on Ground Zero while the ruins were still smouldering. Her new book, “The Battle For Ground Zero,” chronicles the years of struggle and conflict during which New Yorkers fought over what should replace the World Trade Center.

As in so many rebuilding battles, the fight was never just about architecture or transit hubs or public/private partnerships. The real conflict was over symbolism and ideology. Was the building supposed to be a triumphant rallying point in the “Global War on Terror” or a somber memorial to the deceased? The attacks on the WTC killed nearly 3000 people, and some of their remains still rest at Ground Zero. So, one of the major challenges in reconstruction was reconciling the need for a historical memorial to a terrorist attack in the middle of a commercial office complex that lives or dies by its ability to attract tenants.

In the summer of 2011, 14 million Americans were unemployed and 16% of the country was officially poor. Student loan debt eclipsed credit card with over $1 trillion outstanding. One in five mortgages was underwater. Our leaders said the economy was recovering from the recession caused by the financial crisis, but their soothing pronouncements seemed to mock the evidence of our senses. On September 17, a group of activists converged on a small concrete plaza in lower Manhattan, determined to Occupy Wall Street.

In the summer of 2011, 14 million Americans were unemployed and 16% of the country was officially poor. Student loan debt eclipsed credit card with over $1 trillion outstanding. One in five mortgages was underwater. Our leaders said the economy was recovering from the recession caused by the financial crisis, but their soothing pronouncements seemed to mock the evidence of our senses. On September 17, a group of activists converged on a small concrete plaza in lower Manhattan, determined to Occupy Wall Street.

Bunch tells the story of the bridge through the eyes of several vividly drawn characters: A 19-year-old veteran street protester with working class roots and a genius for escaping arrest; a 69-year-old retired lawyer who showed up on impulse after being moved by a play about the final day of Martin Luther King’s life; a painfully shy theater tech who found the movement online; a self-styled branding expert/saxophonist; and a 24-year-old Jewish immigrant from the former Soviet Union, drowning in student debt.

Host, Lindsay Beyerstein:

“The Battle of the Brooklyn Bridge” tells the story of a pivotal event in the history of Occupy Wall Street. On Oct. 1, hundreds of protesters marched from occupied Zuccotti Park towards the Brooklyn Bridge. The official plan was to have a picnic on the other side of the river and march back.

The police allowed the protesters to surge onto the bridge and then proceeded to corral them in nets and arrest them by the hundreds

Bunch tells the story of the bridge through the eyes of several vividly drawn characters: A 19-year-old veteran street protester with working class roots and a genius for escaping arrest; a 69-year-old retired lawyer who showed up on impulse after being moved by a play about the final day of Martin Luther King’s life; a painfully shy theater tech who found the movement online; a self-styled branding expert/saxophonist; and a 24-year-old Jewish immigrant from the former Soviet Union, drowning in student debt.

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it’s nice to find that out for yourself. Rumor has it lobbyists will represent anyone for the right price. Anyone? Journalist Ken Silverstein, the author of Turkmeniscam: How Washington Lobbyists Fought to Flack for a Stalinist Dictatorship, wanted to find out for himself.

Lobbyists are notoriously secretive about their work. Obviously, they weren’t going to divulgue their high-priced secrets to a report. So Silverstein contrived a simple but elegant ruse to get into the inner sanctums of the Washington lobby establishment: posing as a potential client.

Howard Dean at YearlyKos, 2006. This just in from the New York Times blog: "Howard Dean will not seek a second term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, ending a tenure marked by an aggressive attempt to reshape the mission of the committee – and to court support by

CNN anchor Cambell Brown has some harsh words for the McCain aides who are dishing the dirt about Sarah Palin to the press: You picked her.

Two suit-related scandals rocked Republican politics in 2008. The first involved Sen. Norm Coleman and the second Gov. Sarah Palin. These sartorial scandals shared an unlikely epicenter: Neiman Marcus, Minneapolis.