Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps

that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream

van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC sounds. This is a download

from the BBC. For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.co.uk slash radio three.

Hello. Today, two authors born a decade apart, both students of what it means to be an American

and both students of the political left, although the left in their terms is relative.

Jonathan Leitham was born in although the left in their terms is relative. We all live in the yellow submarine.

Jonathan Leitham was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1964,

his father an avant-garde painter,

his Jewish mother, a political activist,

with communists in the family tree.

The young Jonathan was immersed in the 60s counterculture art and activism of his parents with the Beatles, the soundtrack to his life.

When the revolution didn't happen, Jonathan's childhood assumptions about the future of America

changed and the gift of a

typewriter from his mother on his 14th birthday was the prompt he needed to write. Science fiction

and westerns have featured in the influences for his novels, such as Gun with Occasional

Music, Girl in a Lands and chronic city.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world and the Cold War,

long live communism, long live Lenin.

In 1972, on the 55th anniversary of the Soviet Union,

Gary Steingart was born in Leningrad.

His father was an engineer who'd wanted to sing opera.

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