Profiles

Friday, Doug is live with filmmakers Sarah Burns and David McMahon for a conversation about their new PBS documentary "The Central Park Five." In 1989, a white woman was brutally raped and beaten in New York's Central Park. Five black and Latino teens from Harlem were pilloried by the press and convicted by the criminal justice system. But then in 2002, the real rapist confessed and DNA evidence helped exonerate the five men. Next week, we're screening the film as part of our Through the Lens documentary series.

Wednesday, we're talking to the writer Cheryl Strayed about her memoir "Wild." Strayed was 22-years-old when her mother died of cancer, and she says the loss brought her to a "most savage self." Her marriage was falling apart, she was sleeping with other men and was using heroin. She needed healing, and she found it on a grueling, 1100 mile solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed will be in Utah this weekend and she joins Doug to talk about facing her demons and finding her way back.

Monday, we're telling the astonishing story of a plot to kill Abraham Lincoln on the way to his first inaugural. Our guest is biographer Daniel Stashower, who says the President-elect hadn't even left Illinois when the threats started to arrive. In 1861, it was hard for Lincoln to believe that political hatred could lead to murder. Legendary detective Allan Pinkerton believed though and it was his team of operatives that raced to thwart the "Baltimore Plot."

The journalist Lesley Hazleton says that early sources on the prophet Muhammad are infuriatingly vague. He’s described as “neither tall nor short,” “neither dark nor fair,” and “neither thin nor stout.” Hazleton, a longtime Middle East reporter and an agnostic Jew, wanted to understand the man whose legacy continues to shape our world. Her new biography is called “The First Muslim,” and Tuesday, she joins Doug to explain how a man from humble beginnings rose to be the voice and leader of his people.