Fund Drive Special: Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn, the radical historian, political science professor, and veteran activist, presented an alternative understanding of Christopher Columbus and his legacy.
Against the Grain
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.
Fund Drive Special: Chomsky on Wealth and Power
Over the past half century, the US economy has undergone a profound change: wealth has been concentrated in the hands of a few, inequality has skyrocketed, and insecurity has reigned. And yet it’s a story mainly downplayed by mainstream pundits and the media. Noam Chomsky, arguably the most important public intellectual in the world, says … Continued
Ram Dass, Andrew Weil, and Timothy Leary are among the featured voices on the audio compilation “Let’s Take a Trip: A Social History of LSD.”
We’ve witnessed a seismic shift over the last half century, in which an already unequal society became intensely stratified, with wealth and power concentrated in the hands of the very few. Under such circumstances, is a democracy possible? Noam Chomsky, arguably the most important public intellectual in the world, takes up that question.
Penn professor Paul Goldin discusses the Chinese philosophical text “Lao-Tzu,” also known as the “Tao Te Ching,” which has inspired and intrigued readers for more than two millennia.
Fund Drive Special: Chomsky on Wealth and Power
Over the past half century, the US economy has undergone a profound change: wealth has been concentrated in the hands of a few, inequality has skyrocketed, and insecurity has reigned. And yet it’s a story mainly downplayed by mainstream pundits and the media. Noam Chomsky, arguably the most important public intellectual in the world, says … Continued
Conversations with William Irvine about his book “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy” and with Mark Vernon, author of “Plato’s Podcasts: The Ancients’ Guide to Modern Living.” (Image by Joshua Woroniecki via Unsplash.)
Many are the names forgotten to history, of people who fought to transform our world for the better. One of them was Benjamin Lay, a trailblazing figure who opposed slavery and devoted his life to forcing his fellow Quakers to end their complicity in the enslavement of others. Historian Marcus Rediker seeks to rescue a … Continued
Structural racism may be the dominant intellectual framework for understanding race and racism, but it’s not the only one. Greta Snyder prefers what she calls a complex systems framework. She contends that an approach rooted in complex systems thinking may motivate more action and activism to combat racism. Greta Fowler Snyder, “Absolving Responsibility and Dampening … Continued
The fortunes of DDT, the synthetic pesticide which infamously devastated bird populations in the United States, rose and fell during the 20th century, and rose again in the 21st century, driven by a campaign by Big Tobacco to sew uncertainty about what can be known. Historian of medicine Elena Conis discusses the trajectory and afterlife … Continued