12:00 PM Pacific Time: Mondays - Wednesdays
Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley.
Betsy Hartmann, director of the Population and Development Program at Hampshire College, speaks with Sasha Lilley about whether overpopulation is the cause of global warming and the destruction of natural ecosystems.
James Russell describes the ideological forces and financial interests behind the promotion of 401(k) plans at the expense of traditional pension systems and Social Security.
Kevin Anderson, author of “Marx at the Margins,” discusses Karl Marx’s lesser known writings on race and ethnicity, the non-Western world, and multiple trajectories of historical development.
In his new book “Virtual Words: Language on the Edge of Science and Technology,” Jonathon Keats considers the origins, uses, and social impact of terms like “microbiome,” “copyleft,” “Panglish,” and “singularity.”
Economic geographer Richard Walker speaks with Sasha Lilley about the role California has played as the epicenter of the economic crisis–from the housing bubble to manufacturing to its state’s fiscal woes.
Adam Hochschild talks about his now-classic book “King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa.” (First-time presentation of the full-length interview.)
Graphic novelist Eric Drooker speaks to Sasha Lilley about Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl, written in 1955, which was branded obscene at the time, and why the poem still reverberates strongly today.
U.C. Davis historian Alan Taylor describes Thomas Paine’s political beliefs and discusses Paine’s influential pamphlet “Common Sense.”
Tristram Stuart, author of “Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal,” talks to Sasha Lilley about the the massive amount of food — up to 50% in the US — which is thrown away by manufacturers, farmers, supermarkets, and consumers.
Rinne Groff’s play “Compulsion” is based on the true story of Meyer Levin’s long-term obsession with Anne Frank and her diary. And Renata Zerner has written a memoir about her teenage years in Nazi Germany.
