The War and Peace Broadcast: 35 Years Later

Program Title:
The War and Peace Broadcast: 35 Years Later
PRA Archive #: 
PZ0660a-b
Description: 

On December 6, 1970, more that 170 people from all walks of life came together to read from one of the great novels of all time, over the airwaves of Pacifica station WBAI 99.5 FM. Nearly five days later, the legendary actor Morris Carnovsky read the famous last words to Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, ending what was at the time the longest continuous broadcast in radio history. One of the more ambitious radio broadcasts ever undertaken, with one of the largest casts, listeners struggled to stay awake so as not to miss a single sentence, and emptied New York bookstore shelves in pursuit of a companion novel for this historic reading.

For our 2005 Archives fund drive, Pacifica Radio Archives revisits this amazing record-setting reading with a two-hour audio documentary about the 1970 War and Peace broadcast, highlighting the voices of Dustin Hoffman, Ann Bancroft, Mel Brooks, Julius Lester, Abbie Hoffman, William F. Buckley, Buck Henry, and Carolyn Goodman, among others. Additionally, a diverse group of world citizens were invited to re-record passages from the book to bring attention to the universality of the novel and add relevance to the continuing struggle the world finds itself in today. 2005 readers include Helen Thomas, Cindy Sheehan, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Arianna Huffington, Robert Fisk, Mike Farrell, Ed Asner, Shirley Knight, Count Nikolai Tolstoy (senior living member of Tolstoy family), and many others.

Read letters from listeners of the 1970 broadcast here.

Read comments from producers of the original broadcast here.

Dustin Hoffman is among the voices in the 1970 production. See the complete 1970 cast list.

Complete 2005 cast list.

Date Recorded on: 
2005-00-00 00:00:00
Date Broadcast on: 
2005-12-06 00:00:00
Item duration: 
01:58:04
Total duration (All reels): 
118
Keywords: 
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Contributor: 
Role: 
Narrator and Producer
Distributor: 
Los Angeles : Pacifica Radio Archive, 2005.
Rights Summary: 
RESTRICTED. Permissions, licensing requests, Curriculum Initiative, Campus Campaign and all other inquiries should be directed to: Mark Torres, Archives Director, 800-735-0230, Mark@PacificaRadioArchives.org
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