Margot Adler
Margot Adler died on July 28, 2014 at her home in New York City. She was 68 and had been battling cancer. Listen to NPR Correspondent David Folkenflik's retrospective on her life and career
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Margot Adler is a NPR correspondent based in NPR's New York Bureau. Her reports can be heard regularly on All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition.
In addition to covering New York City, Adler reports include in-depth features exploring the interface of politics and culture. Most recently she has been reporting on the controversy surrounding the proposed Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero. Other recent pieces have focused on the effect of budget cuts on education, flood relief efforts by the Pakistani community in the United States, the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and the battles over the September 11th memorial as well as the continuing human story in New York City in the years since the attacks. Her reporting has included topics such as the death penalty, affirmative action and the culture wars.
Adler did the first American radio interview with J.K. Rowling and has charted the Harry Potter phenomenon ever since. Her reporting ranges across issues including children and technology, the fad of the Percy Jackson books and the popularity of vampires. She occasionally reviews books, covers plays, art exhibitions and auctions, among other reports for NPR's Arts desk.
From 1999-2008, Adler was the host of NPR's Justice Talking, a weekly show exploring constitutional controversies in the nation's courts.
Adler joined the NPR staff as a general assignment reporter in 1979, after spending a year as an NPR freelance reporter covering New York City. In 1980, she documented the confrontation between radicals and the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1984, she reported and produced an acclaimed documentary on AIDS counselors in San Francisco. She covered the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988 and in Sarajevo in 1984. She has reported on homeless people living in the subways, on the state of the middle class and on the last remaining American hospital for treating leprosy, which was located in Louisiana.
From 1972 to 1990, Adler created and hosted live talk shows on WBAI-FM/New York City. One of those shows, Hour of the Wolf, hosted by Jim Freund, continues as a science fiction show to this day. She is the author of the book, Drawing Down the Moon, a study of contemporary nature religions, and a 1960's memoir, Heretic's Heart. She co-produced an award-winning radio drama, War Day, and is a lecturer and workshop leader. She is currently working on a book on why vampires have such traction in our culture.
With a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, Adler went on to earn a Master of Science degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York in 1970. She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1982.
The granddaughter of Alfred Adler, the renowned Viennese psychiatrist, Adler was born in Little Rock, Ark., and grew up in New York City. She loves birding and science fiction.
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Perhaps the headline in the New York Post said it all: "DC's Stupid Scrooges Slash NYC Terror Aid and Splurge on the Sticks." On the other hand, New Yorkers seem to be taking in stride the news that the city's federal anti-terrorism funding will be cut about 40 percent.
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A New York City staircase has been listed as one of America's most endangered historic sites by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Patty Clark, left, and Kayla Bergeron escaped from the collapsing World Trade Center through these steps, now known as the "survivor" staircase. -
The Rev. William Sloane Coffin, a former Yale University chaplain known for his anti-war and peace activism, dies at the age of 81. Coffin questioned authority throughout his career, using civil disobedience to fight for civil rights and against war.
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The Elder Wisdom Circle was founded on the premise that people over 60 have wisdom to impart. With 250 members nationwide, the group offers advice to thousands who e-mail their Web site.
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The bartenders, waiters and busboys who once worked at the World Trade Center's Windows on the World restaurant are realizing a dream and opening their own restaurant, Colors, in lower Manhattan. Colors opened Thursday night.
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In the wake of the London bombings, New York City officials have begun random searches of subway passengers. Some New Yorkers are taking it in stride, but a civil liberties group is raising legal questions saying that the search policy gives a false sense of security.
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Aspiring Spielbergs and Coppolas across the country are taking part in a contest called Fresh Films, where they hire actors and film their short screenplays. The best teen filmmakers will be announced in mid-August. -
It's been 6 months since a tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean, killing a quarter of a million people in a dozen countries. As NPR's Margot Adler reports, the billions of dollars in aid that have poured into those countries is only beginning to make a dent.
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Tutoring is a $4 billion business, and that figure is going up. Once an upper-class phenomenon, tutoring is spreading, thanks to competitive pressures and the No Child Left Behind law. And some children even find the extra lessons enjoyable. -
It's hard to imagine a school with no tests, no grades and no classes. But those familiar elements of education are missing at two dozen Big Picture schools in six states. Margot Adler visits one called The Met, the 10-year-old model for the schools, in Providence, R.I.
