Women and the U.N., comparing economic crises, Bertolt Brecht

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3

The U.N. General Assembly authorized a new U.N. agency for women last week. We’ll look at the years of advocacy that led to it. The World’s Jason Margolis helps answer a listener’s question about how this economic crisis compares to past ones, especially in terms of U.S. debt. And The World’s Alex Gallafent rereads Bertolt Brecht on the Crash of 1929.

Boom, Bust and Bertolt Brecht

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

In the late 1920s, American capitalism inspired a German opera about a city built on greed … “Everything is defined by money. Everything can be bought, including human relations” … The opera’s creator decried capitalism. In the wake of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, Brecht wrote about New York. It’s as if he was writing last year. The World’s Alex Gallafent has the story. Download MP3

• Poem: Late Lamented Fame of the Giant City of New York
• Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
• Bertolt Brecht: Poems 1913-1956