From the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts to the triumph of unions in the twentieth century and their waning influence today, the contest between labor and capital for their share of American bounty has shaped our national experience. But through it all there has been an uneasy feeling about the nature and mission of the unions. Al's guest this week is author and historian Philip Dray. In his new book "There Is Power In A Union" he masterfully clears away the cobwebs of time and presents a clear picture of how and why labor unions are to this day a mainstay in American life. Tune in this Sunday evening, September 5th at 10:30 pm for a spirited discussion with Philip Dray.
Sparks was one of those unique bands you either loved and enjoyed or vehemently despised. Their songs sounded like nothing else on record with difficult rhythms and smart but extremely quirky lyrics. The band even looked weird: one Mael brother looked like a Hollywood glamour boy while the other looked like either Charlie Chaplin or Hitler! Beginning in the early 1970s, Sparks’ music was an influence on any number of musicians, though few say so publicly, and Sparks was one of the few pre-punk bands that gave an inkling of what was to come. Join us tonight on Inquiry when we welcome back prolific writer and rock historian DAVE THOMPSON about his definitive biography SPARKS: NO. 1 SONGS IN HEAVEN. It’s a wild tale with cameos by Todd Rundgren, Lene Lovich, Siouxsie Sioux and Jacques Tati.
There is no doubt our climate is changing, but how do climatologists know how much it is going to change and what is causing these changes? Tonight’s guest on Inquiry is HEIDI CULLEN, senior research scientist with Climate Central and well known to many from her numerous appearances on the Weather Channel. Her new book, THE WEATHER OF THE FUTURE: HEAT WAVES, EXTREME STORMS AND OTHER SCENES FROM A CLIMATE CHANGED PLANET is a wonderful introduction to the science of climatology that explains clearly how we know what we know about climate change. Tune in and learn about some of the places on earth where climate change is already an issue of paramount importance. These include the San Joaquin Delta in California and New York City New York. If you want to know about the actual science of global climate predictions, TUNE IN!
Do you have trouble admitting you’re wrong but take real pleasure in pointing out the mistakes in others? Well, you are not alone. The experience of being wrong is one of the most despised yet complex and common phenomena in our lives. What finally brings us to the point of being able to admit we have been in error? Can being wrong ever be a positive experience? Tune in tonight when Inquiry talks with writer, journalist, editor and “wrongologist” KATHYRN SCHULZ about her important new book BEING WRONG: ADVENTURES IN THE MARGIN OF ERROR. It’s a book you would probably like to give to someone else in your life, but you should read it too.
Off our Massachusetts coasts dwell one of the great spectacles of the natural world: the great whales. If you have ever been on a whale watch and gotten close to a Humpback, chances are it was an event you will never forget. What do we know about these mammoth marine mammals behavior, and how can we identify them? Tonight on Inquiry, we welcome PETER TRULL , educator, researcher and veteran of more than 1400 whale watching trips while working for the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies! Peter has written a wonderful guide about whale behavior called CLOSER TO THE GREAT WHALES, profusely illustrated with his own photography. Tune in tonight and learn about how whales feed, sleep and breathe.
Today there are hundreds of websites, television shows and vociferous people who will tell you that their idea is correct and that traditional science can be damned. There are people who deny global warming is occurring; that believe in creationism, swear by astrology and think AIDS can be cured with muddy water. Could they be right and science wrong? With so many conflicting opinions and ideas about the world, how can we tell truth from fiction? Tonight on Inquiry, we welcome MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI, Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York. He has written a thoughtful book on this problem titled NONSENSE ON STILTS: HOW TO TELL SCIENCE FROM BUNK. Tonight on part 1 of our conversation; Professor Pigliucci talks about what can be harmful about holding beliefs that are nonsense and why scientists should engage in public debates with pseudo scientists.
Hunger is a political condition and contributes to international security issues,
Congressman Jim McGovern told the audience gathered this past March 29 at the
Leicester campus of Becker College for his lecture, “The Global Hunger Crisis:
Roadmap to a Solution,” which was part of the Franklin M. Loew Lecture Series.
A member of the Congressional Hunger Caucus, Congressman McGovern said that,
in his travels to Africa and South America, "no one has ever asked me for an
AK-47, but they have asked me for food."
Joining Congressman McGovern in this interview is Jean McMurray, executive director
of the Worcester County Food Bank.
To learn more about the Worcester County Food Bank, listen to the Business Beat
interview that Steve did with Jean McMurray and that aired past February 28.
In the early years of the 19th Century, a loose association of poets, writers, publishers and radicals created the heart and soul of Britain’s Romantic movement. This circle of acquaintances included Lord Byron, Keats, Shelley, and Mary Shelley but also many people not as well known outside of Britain. These included luminaries like Leigh Hunt, the publisher of The Examiner, a sort of Huffington Post of its day. These artists wandered throughout Britain and Europe and led wild, unpredictable and amorous lives as they wrote. Their history reads like a hallucinatory soap opera. Tonight on Inquiry, we talk with DAISY HAY, who has a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and is the Alistair Horne Fellow at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford. Her new book, YOUNG ROMANTICS: THE TANGLED LIVES OF ENGLISH POETRY’S GREATEST GENERATION is a mesmerizing and endlessly entertaining history of these unique writers and poets.
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