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Connections

Coming Up On Connections: Monday, September 19th

PBS

First hour: The new documentary, Defying the Nazis

Second hour: Can American high school students learn to fall in love with great books?

Our guest is Dr. Alexander Strasser, one of 19 survivors from the Kinder Transport. Strasser's story is part of the new documentary from Ken Burns called Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War. It focuses on a little-known story of an American minister and his wife who rescued refugees and dissidents in Europe before and after the start of World War II. The 90-minute film tells the story of Waitstill and Martha Sharp, a Unitarian minister and his wife from Wellesley, Massachusetts, who left their children behind in the care of their parish, and boldly committed to numerous life-threatening missions in Europe. Over two dangerous years, they helped to save hundreds of imperiled political dissidents and Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi occupation across Europe.
 
In our second hour: David Denby is a writer and a lover of classic literature who wanted to know if modern students could be taught to love and value great books. Maybe it's a question that's been around for centuries: How can we make kids love books? But it's more challenging, seemingly intractable now. Kids read texts. They rarely read books. Denby set out to know whether it's possible to bring the classics into the hearts and minds of students in Manhattan, and Westchester, and an impoverished district in Connecticut. He found inspiring teachers, and he found students slowly unlocking the mysteries in books like The Scarlet Letter. He's our guest for the hour, discussing his book, Lit Up, with a focus on how to preserve literature in the digital age.

Connections
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.