Radio & Podcasts

Alvin Hall in The Bonfire of the Vanities

BBC Radio 4

Five part series, March 2012

Program 1: The Bronx More Info
Program 2: Wall Street More Info
Program 3: Justice More Info
Program 4: English Journalists in New York More Info
Program 5: The Politics of the Case More Info

Tom Wolfe wrote of the procession of young black men being jolted through the criminal justice system in New York, and particularly the Bronx, as a depressing, and relentless, spectacle. 1980's New York was renowned for its crime, but today it is supposed to be cleaned up. Alvin Hall asks how much really has changed since those dark days, visiting the courthouse in the Bronx, speaking to legal contemporaries of characters in the book and then asking the truth of what's changed from a younger member of the current generation of lawyers.
Produced by Lucy Lloyd.