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.
Who gets put into solitary confinement, and why? What roles do race, racism, and mental health diagnoses play? Terry Kupers describes what spending time in solitary does to the human psyche; he also cites recent changes in attitudes toward, and laws regulating, solitary confinement. Bruce Arrigo and Brian Sellers, eds., The Pre-Crime Society: Crime, Culture, … Continued
The Republican Party is gripped by a hatred of immigrants. But geographer Reece Jones argues it has not always been so. Instead, one man, the late John Tanton, was responsible for making nativism appear a central concern of conservatives, by propagating scores of anti-immigrant organizations, some which eventually helped staff the Trump Administration. And, as … Continued
What views did Gandhi hold about education and human development? Was the importance he attached to manual skills-building and vocational training justified? And what role did the Mahatma’s conceptions of nonviolence and truth play in his pedagogy? Purushottama Bilimoria has written extensively about Gandhian thought and practice. Purushottama Bilimoria, ed., History of Indian Philosophy Routledge, 2020 Bilimoria, Prabhu, and … Continued
Could humans ever live together without warring? Did half of us evolve to start wars and dominate the rest of us? Biological anthropologist Agustín Fuentes separates myths from the facts about aggression, genes, human nature, and evolution, in this interview from the collection “Big Picture Ideas: The Best of Against the Grain”.
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.”
Open any world history book and you’ll read that the Neolithic Revolution was a turning point for humanity, when hunter gatherers gave up roving in small egalitarian groups and settled down to farm. Out of that, civilization was born, with all the benefits and ills connected to it: the rise of cities, the emergence of … 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.”
As Covid tragically illustrated, large numbers of Americans are in poor health and especially vulnerable to viruses and other pathogens. How did we get here? According to physician Robert Lustig, it started with the turn toward processed food, which has led to an ongoing national and global public health crisis, while enriching corporations and the … Continued
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.
Every October, the United States officially celebrates Columbus Day. Yet the story of Columbus is shrouded in myth and falsehoods, on display in the textbooks American kids are assigned. Sociologist and educator James Loewen, who died recently, set out to challenge that myth-making in his book Lies My Teacher Told Me, providing a salutary antidote … Continued
