Now What? With Carole Zimmer

Rachel Eliza Griffiths always wanted to be a writer. She's written 5 collections of poems, a novel called Promise and The Flower Bearers," a memoir. This book tells the story of a young woman who has faced many bumps in the road including living with a mental health challenge that used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder. Griffiths has spent her life dealing with what she calls her alters or alternate personalities. She also has one relationship that has brought great joy into her life. Griffiths is married to writer Salmon Rushdie. Sitting on a couch in my living room on a sunny day this summer, I spoke with Rachel Eliza Griffiths about trauma, identity and what it's like to be best known as the wife of a famous author. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

We're a gun crazy country. There are more than 400 million guns in the U.S. That adds up to more guns than people. There are plenty of reasons for this. The Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to keep and bear arms. Firearms also served as practical tools for survival, hunting, and protection during the 1800s when American settlers pushed westward. Films like Dirty Harry, Rambo and The Terminator glorified super killers. Mike McIntire is a Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter at the NY Times. McIntire's new book is called Ricochet: Guns, Greed and the American Way of Violence. We talk about gun ownership, mass shootings and who profits from the sale of firearms. "Now What?" is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

His nickname is the Mooch and he gained a place in history when he became the shortest-serving Communications Director in White House history after being on the job for 10 days.  Scaramucci had known Trump for decades before joining the administration. Both were New Yorkers who traveled in prominent circles. Scaramucci had also made a fortune on Wall Street. The former White House Communications Director now considers Donald Trump a threat to democracy. He lays out his case in a new book called All the Wrong Moves. Anthony Scaramucci talks about his biggest mistakes, how his marriage nearly fell apart and what it means to have a moral core. That's all on the new episode of "Now What?" which is produced with the help of Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

I'm so sad I now live in a world without Gloria Steinem. Unlike many public personalities, Gloria was the real deal: modest, warm, smart, funny. She took her passion for equality, women's rights and human rights to a place that lit up the world. Gloria played a special role in my life: friend and mentor. She was the first guest on "Now What?" That was 11 years ago. We spoke in the brownstone she lived in since the '60s which is filled with objects she brought back from her travels around the world. Sitting in her living room, we chatted about her childhood, politics, feminism and Cathy, the elephant she rode in Botswana to celebrate her 80th birthday. Gloria wanted to live to be 100. She made it to 92. Her spirit lives on in this conversation. This episode of "Now What?" was produced with the help of Nellie Gilles, Allison Bernstein, Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.

There's a new film out called Reading Lolita in Tehran. It's based on the best-selling book by Azar Nafisi who held a reading group in her home in Iran where female students met each week to read banned books like Madame Bovary and Lolita. Nafisi had gone back to the country where she was born in 1979, right after the revolution that deposed the Shah and installed the Islamic regime. She found herself teaching in a country where people who were opposed to the religious government were often imprisoned and executed. After 18 years, Nafisi and her family packed up their belongings and fled to the U.S. We talk about oppression, freedom and how books saved her life. "Now What?" is produced with help from Steve Zimmer, Lucy Little and Jackie Schwartz. Audio production is by Nick Ciavatta.