Against the Grain – November 3, 2009
In his new book "Why I Am Not a Scientist," the anthropologist Jonathan Marks confronts "genohype" — the trumpeting of the power of genetics to explain human attributes and behavior.

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.
In his new book "Why I Am Not a Scientist," the anthropologist Jonathan Marks confronts "genohype" — the trumpeting of the power of genetics to explain human attributes and behavior.
Acclaimed science fiction writer Terry Bisson talks about the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, as well as his own radical activism and imprisonment. And celebrated novelist Paco Ignacio Taibo II speaks about the dark years following the 1968 massacre of student protestors in Mexico City.
What are the social and environmental costs of building and maintaining military bases and gigantic monuments? Catherine Lutz is editor of "The Bases of Empire: The Global Struggle Against U.S. Military Posts." And Cecile Pineda's novel "Frieze" considers the forced labor that went into the ninth-century construction of the Buddhist monument Borobudur.
Political economist and historian Jason W Moore puts crises of the environment and the economy in historical perspective. With host Sasha Lilley.
Jodi Dean, a political scientist at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, discusses her new book "Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics."
Activist Ryan Harvey talks about militant tactics in the anarchist movement in the wake of recent protests against the G20. With host Sasha Lilley.
A look at the crisis that rocked Pacifica ten years ago and governance structure that it spawned, with historian Matthew Lasar, KPFA news co-director Aileen Alfandary, and host Sasha Lilley.
Rana Husseini discusses her new book "Murder in the Name of Honor," about so-called honor killings in her home country of Jordan as well as around the world.
A first-time presentation of the full-length interview with Andrew Pessin, author of "The God Question: What Famous Thinkers from Plato to Dawkins have said about the Divine."