Start the Week - Turkey: Past and Present

Amol Rajan discusses Turkey past and present with the authors Elif Shafak and Kaya Genç, Chatham House's Fadi Hakura and the historian Bettany Hughes.

Shafak's new novel, The Three Daughters of Eve, moves between Turkey and Britain, and is a tale of friendship, faith and betrayal. It portrays Turkey as a country riven by deep divisions in society, politics and religion.

Kaya Genç reports from across Turkey, exploring the lives of the country's angry young people on both sides of the political divide, while Fadi Hakura from Chatham House considers Turkey's changing relations with the outside world amid increasing nationalist feeling and isolationism.

Bettany Hughes's biography of Istanbul is the story of three cities - Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul - and reveals a city that's been at the heart of political life between the East and the West for the last eight thousand years.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

Start the Week - Turkey: Past and Present

Amol Rajan discusses Turkey past and present with the authors Elif Shafak and Kaya Genç, Chatham House's Fadi Hakura and the historian Bettany Hughes.

Shafak's new novel, The Three Daughters of Eve, moves between Turkey and Britain, and is a tale of friendship, faith and betrayal. It portrays Turkey as a country riven by deep divisions in society, politics and religion.

Kaya Genç reports from across Turkey, exploring the lives of the country's angry young people on both sides of the political divide, while Fadi Hakura from Chatham House considers Turkey's changing relations with the outside world amid increasing nationalist feeling and isolationism.

Bettany Hughes's biography of Istanbul is the story of three cities - Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul - and reveals a city that's been at the heart of political life between the East and the West for the last eight thousand years.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

Crimetown - S1 E08: Cat and Mouse

A master thief keeps getting away with big heists. A cop spends years tailing him, tapping his phone, and practically moving in across the street. Their epic tug-of-war will revolutionize the fight against organized crime.

For a full list of credits, and for more information about this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Paper

The Gutenberg printing press is widely considered to be one of humanity’s defining inventions. Actually, you can quibble with Gutenberg’s place in history. He wasn’t the first to invent a movable type press – it was originally developed in China. Still the Gutenberg press changed the world. It led to Europe’s reformation, science, the newspaper, the novel, the school textbook, and much else. But, as Tim Harford explains, it could not have done so without another invention, just as essential but often overlooked: paper. Paper was another Chinese idea, just over 2000 years ago. Producer: Ben Crighton Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon (Image: Stack of coloured paper, Credit: Laborant/Shutterstock)

The Gist - Yeah, We’re Scared Too

In one tweet, George W. Bush appointee Eliot Cohen became the face for anti-Trump conservatives: “After exchange with Trump transition team, changed my recommendation: stay away. They’re angry, arrogant, screaming ‘you LOST!’ Will be ugly.” With the news this week that senior State Department officials have resigned en masse, Cohen says there are reasons to be very worried about America’s role on the world stage. Cohen is the author of The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force.

For the Spiel, more and more reasons to distrust Vladimir Putin.   

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The Gist - Deregulation Nation

Americans are skeptical of regulation, no matter how much they hate hair in their hot dogs. Why are Republicans winning this argument? Jacob Hacker is director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University and author of the new book American Amnesia.   For the Spiel, an ethics scandal hits South Dakota. Yes, South Dakota!

Today’s sponsor:

Dunkin’ Donuts. Upgrade your day with DD Perks. Earn a free Dunkin’ Donuts beverage when you enroll by using promo code DDPODCAST, and speed past the line in-store with on-the-go ordering. Download the Dunkin’ app and enroll today.

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