University of Sydney podcasts
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Ameen Rihani: An Arab-American Humanist Intellectual Dr Nijmeh Hajjar, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Arts Ameen Rihani (1876-1940) was an influential Arab-American thinker, writer and political activist, and was one of the most prominent humanist intellectuals of the 20th century. In this lecture, Dr Hajjar argues that in the light of today’s momentous world events and the search for global peace and cultural dialogue, Rihani’s secular vision of progress, liberal democracy and Arab-Western mutual respect is a balancing counterpoint to the obscurantism of both ideological fanaticism and the ‘clash of civilizations’ paradigms. September 1, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 19 min, 36.4Mb MP3) |
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The business of journalism in a new media age Eric Beecher, Crikey.com.au "Traditional funding for important journalism is drying up," Eric Beecher observes. "The digital revolution that has democratised media and torn down the barriers to entry has also undermined the traditional old media business models that have subsidised quality journalism for the past century. Which creates a paradox and a dilemma: who will pay for the journalism that is integral to a properly functioning democracy?" August 27, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 6 min, 30.3Mb MP3) |
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Alfred North Whitehead: From Cambridge mathematician to Harvard philosopher Sydney Ideas Key Thinkers Series Peter Farleigh, Physiology, and Centre for Human Aspects of Science and Technology What would the consequences be, if rather than substances and structures, we took events and processes to be the primary entities that make up the universe? And what if instead of the traditional mechanistic model we used the concept of the organism, as the key metaphor in our understanding of the world? These are two central questions that Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) wrestled with in his later years. August 25, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 17 min, 35.8Mb MP3) |
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The Icarus Syndrome: A history of American hubris Sydney Ideas Open and US Studies Centre Peter Beinart, Associate Professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York, and the senior political writer for The Daily Beast. The Icarus Syndrome tells a tale as old as the Greek–a story about the seductions of success. In conversation with Associate Professor Brendan O'Connor from the US Studies Centre, Peter Beinart portrays three extraordinary generations: the progressives who took America into World War I, led by Woodrow Wilson, who for a moment became the closest thing to a political messiah the world had ever seen. The Camelot intellectuals who took America into Vietnam, led by Lyndon Johnson, who lay awake at night in terror that his countrymen considered him weak. And George W. Bush and the post–cold war conservatives, who believed they could simultaneously bludgeon and liberate the Middle East. August 25, 2010 (Running time 1 hour, 27.6Mb MP3) |
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A Sydney Ideas Open/Sydney Humanities Salon Co presentation Ken Wissoker, Editorial Director at Duke University Press, Cathy N. Davidson, Ruth F DeVarney Professor of English at Duke University with Professor Shane White and Professor Iain McCalman, Department of History, University of Sydney How often do we hear that academics can't write? The people at Duke know something we don't? Ken Wissoker, the editorial director at Duke, believes his press not only produces smart books, it also shapes intellectual inquiry. But what about the future? What will happen to scholarship-and to thinking-in the age of digital technology? How do we develop new means to disseminate ideas? Cathy N. Davidson, the Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English at Duke University and past president of the American Studies Association, joins Ken Wissoker to asking us to think beyond the book. August 19, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 22 min, 37.7Mb MP3) |
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J. K. Galbraith: Economic reform and the good society Professor Frank Stilwell, Political Economy, Faculty of Arts The distinguished political economist John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) thought economic reform should help to create ‘the good society’. He excoriated orthodox economists for being overly enamoured with the free market economy. He warned that capitalism, unless strongly regulated by government, would generate social imbalance, economic instability and unacceptable inequalities between rich and poor. August 18, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 18 min, 36.1Mb MP3) |
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What to do about journalism schools in a time of disruptive technology Professor Jay Rosen, New York University Journalism educators' discussion session of the Walkley Foundation's narrative and new media conference Jay Rosen, author of the influential PressThink blog and groundbreaking work ‘What are Journalists For?’ talks with Australian journalism educators about the shifts in thinking and practice needed to prepare students for rapidly changing, multimedial and user-focused media environments. August 13, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 39 min, 45.5Mb MP3) |
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Professor Janet Browne, Harvard University with Professor Iain McCalman and Professor Alison Bashford, University of Sydney A Sydney Ideas Arts Matters Forum What do we learn when we revisit scientists’ past worlds? How might one write a life as famous as Charles Darwin’s? Why is biography the best-selling genre of all? Pre-eminent Darwin scholar and Harvard Professor of the History of Science Janet Browne, talks with Sydney’s prizewinning historian Professor Iain McCalman, about the challenges and delights of the biographical genre for historians. In conversation with Alison Bashford, this is an evening that probes the intellectual life of these keen observers and interpreters of the world of Victorian science. August 12, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 17 min, 29.2Mb MP3) |
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Professor Simon Tormey, Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts Sydney Ideas Key Thinkers Subcomandante Marcos is the anonymous spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), an indigenous land rights movement based in the Chiapas region of Mexico. This Key Thinker lecture reveals the political and philosophical ideas behind the man who has raised international awareness of the impoverished state of Mexico's indigenous population. August 11, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 20 min, 37.1Mb MP3) |
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Sydney Sawyer Conference: The Atlantic world in a Pacific field How does a strange place or people become comparable with those more familiar? What does it take to relate a new plant or animal to those already well known? How does one standardize observations and mobilize things and people and situations so they have meaning elsewhere? That is, how was the Pacific made into the obligatory site for exploring the issues that mattered in the Atlantic world? In particular, this conference examines the ways in which both oceanic regions were co-produced through a complicated series of intellectual and practical interactions over many centuries. Moreover, it seeks ways in which to make the Pacific visible again in global scholarship. August 5-7, 2010
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In Transit: European cosmologies in the Pacific Sydney Ideas and Sydney Sawyer Conference Astronomical interests prompted a series of entries by European travellers into the Pacific. In studies of the complex motives and effects of these expeditions, it has been common to treat astronomical interests either as rationales for more profound political and economic enterprise, or as of a strictly utilitarian character. August 5 , 2010 (Running time 1 hour 37 min, 44.6Mb MP3) |
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A Gathering Storm: China's Challenge to US Power in Asia Professor John Mearsheimer The Fourth Annual Michael Hintze Lecture in International Security Professor John Mearsheimer, from the University of Chicago, is America's boldest and perhaps most controversial thinker in the field of international relations and an authority on US foreign policy and national security. His book, The Israeli Lobby and US Foreign Policy, which he co-authored with Stephen Walt of Harvard University aroused furious debate, and has been translated into 17 languages. August 4, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 28 min, 61.2Mb MP3) |
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Kate Jennings and Dare Jennings in conversation A Sydney Ideas Open Event The award-winning author and University of Sydney Alumna Kate Jennings, with her brother Mambo founder Dare Jennings, discuss how they combine their creative passions and imaginations with a unique entrepreneurial spirit. Dare might be the most obvious entrepreneur but writers are entrepreneurial: every day the blank page, every day an act of invention. Anyone can try out an idea and throw it into the ether. But what does it take to make an idea work? ABC Radio broadcaster, writer and musician James Valentine hosts the discussion. July 30, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 3 min, 29.1Mb MP3) |
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David de Rothschild Co-presented with the Institute for Sustainable Solutions David de Rothschild explains the technology used on board The Plastiki, a unique 18.3-metre catamaran made from approximately 12,500 reclaimed plastic soft drink bottles that have been fixed into the pontoons. He reveal what he and crew learnt on their four-month journey from San Francisco. David is in conversation with inventor, educator and adjudicator Sally Dominguez. July 29 , 2010 (Running time 1 hour 36 min, 44.4Mb MP3) |
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Leon Mayhew: Framing a new political public Dr Richard Stanton, Media & Communications, Faculty of Arts Sydney Ideas Key Thinkers Leon Mayhew, a late 20th century sociologist, argued that public relations professionals, using influence and persuasion, dominate public communication. This lecture examines Mayhew's claims against 21st century public engagement through 'netroots' microblogs such as Twitter and social media such as Facebook. July 28 , 2010 (Running time 46 min, 21.5Mb MP3) |
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Why History Matters: Historians remap the World An arts matters forum co-presented with the faculty of the arts Do we need our history to be global? Work, leisure, war and peace, these are some of the themes that historians are now mapping onto a global past. Join historians David Armitage, Joyce E. Chaplin and Erez Manela from Harvard University, along with Sunil Amrith from Birkbeck College, University of London in a conversation led by Glenda Sluga from the University of Sydney as they talk about how they approach the past globally, and hear the stories that they have to tell about our round world. July 26, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 29 min, 41Mb MP3) |
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History as a Communication Problem John Durham Peters, Professor of International Studies at the University of Iowa A Sydney Ideas Open Event This lecture explores how the basic problems faced by historians–the historical record, its transmission, and interpretation–are problems of communication. July 5, 2010 (Running time 57 min, 26.3Mb MP3) |
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A Sydney Humanities Salon/Ideas Open event A conversation between the disciplines of History and Archaeology on ways of researching Sydney's past. Panelists included; Mary Casey, Director, Casey & Lowe, archaeology and heritage consultants, and a research associate, Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney; Annie Clarke, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and convenor of the Heritage Studies Program; Martin Gibbs, Senior lecturer in the Department of Archaeology; and Paul Irish, archaeologist and Principal Consultant with Mary Dallas Consulting Archaeologists. Panel chaired by Grace Karskens, School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales. June 17, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 38 min, 45.2Mb MP3) |
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Agriculture can feed the world in the 21st Century Centenary Research Symposium Chaired by Ticky Fullerton June 4, 2010 (Running time 1 hour, 12 min, 32.9Mb MP3) |
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The political economy of agricultural science and technology with emphasis on developing countries Dr Per Pinstrup-Anderson, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, Cornell University Centenary Research Symposium June 4, 2010 (Running time 55 min, 25.3Mb MP3) |
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Session 2: Significant research achievements Centenary Research Symposium Professor Les Copeland Professor Peter Sharp One hundred years of agricultural research: the role of agricultural economists in influencing outcomes Dr John Williams Dr Meredith Wilkes June 4, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 42 min, 46.9Mb MP3) |
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Agriculture's critical roles in a global environment and the human condition Dr Jim Peacock, AC, Fellow of The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Centenary Research Symposium June 4, 2010 (Running time 58 min, 26.6Mb MP3) |
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Bringing soil science fully into the 21st Century Dr Pedro Sanchez, Director, Tropical Agriculture and the Rural Environment Program, Director, Millennium Villages Project, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, USA Centenary Research Symposium June 4, 2010 (Running time 59 min, 27.3Mb MP3) |
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Harlem, the black capital of the world Sydney Ideas Open co-presented with Sydney Humanities Salon University of Sydney history academics Shane White, Stephen Robertson and Stephen Garton are part of a collaborative team working on everyday life in Harlem in he 1920s, when the neighbourhood became the black capital of the world. June 10, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 3 min, 28.9Mb MP3) |
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Ending hunger in Africa through science-based policies Pedro Sanchez, Director of The Tropical Agriculture Program of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, USA Sydney Ideas co-presented with the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Replenishing soil fertility, is the primary biophysical requirement for eliminating hunger in tropical Africa. Without soil replenishment, even the best crop varieties and the most enlightened policies cannot stave off hunger. June 9, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 28 min, 40.5Mb MP3) |
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Where is the global food system headed? Professor Per Pinstrup-Andersen A Sydney Ideas and Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources co-presentation Where is the global food system headed? Perspectives on current and future hunger, obesity, sustainability and food crises June 3, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 37 min, 44.7Mb MP3) |
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Michael Renner, Worldwatch Institute, USA A Sydney Ideas Open Event A portion of many national economic stimulus programs contain environment-friendly investments, and additional momentum toward a low-carbon global economy could be gained with the help of a so-called "Green New Deal." May 27, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 3 min, 29.1Mb MP3) |
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The Human Costs of Carnage: Iraq Voices Unearthed Dr Richard Hil, honorary associate in the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney and Michael Otterman, author and human rights consultant. A Sydney Ideas Open Event What are the human costs of the conflict in Iraq? Otterman and Hil present the human portrait of the Iraqi Diaspora as told by those who experienced it first-hand: Iraqis themselves. May 20, 2010 (Running time 57 min, 26.3Mb MP3) |
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A World Court of Human Rights: how would it work? Professor Manfred Nowak, Professor of International Human Rights Protection at University of Vienna and UN Special Rapporteur on Torture since December 2004 A Sydney Ideas Open Event Why has the proposal for a World Court of Human Rights remained stigmatised as utopian? Why do we need it and how could it work? A fascinating lecture for all those working in the field of human rights. May 13, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 12 mins, 29.4Mb MP3) |
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What does it mean to be secure? Human security in our region A One Just World Forum/Sydney Ideas co-presentation Panellists Professor Alan Dupont (Director, Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney), Conny Lenneberg (Director, Policy and Programs, World Vision Australia), Professor Dennis Altman (Director, Institute for Human Security, Latrobe University), and The Hon Bob McMullan MP (Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance) discuss human security in a forum moderated by Eleanor Hall,(Presenter The World Today, ABC Radio) May 5, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 20 min, 36.6Mb MP3) |
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Professor Dan Potts, Director of the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation, University of Sydney A Sydney Ideas Open Event Dan Potts is co-director of an ARC-funded excavation, called Tol-e Nurabad, which is located in the Mamasani district of the Fars province in Iran. In conversation with Professor Glenda Sluga, Dan spoke about what it's like being in Iran in the current political climate, what it's like to work there, and Iran's significance in the modern and ancient worlds. April 29, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 4 min, 29.4Mb MP3) |
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Professor Elliott Sober, Professor of Philosophy at University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA A Sydney Ideas Open Event Are evolutionary theory and belief in God necessarily in conflict? Visiting professor to the University of Sydney, Elliott Sober, addresses this question by considering what biologists mean by saying that mutations are "unguided". He will also discusses Darwin's views on God and Christianity. April 22, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 20 min, 36.5Mb MP3) |
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Going Mobile: Building for the New Mobility Dr. William Rankin, Abilene Christian University, USA A Sydney Ideas Open Event Increasingly, our world relies on mobile devices for communications, work, and play–and people are increasingly recognising the flexibility and power these devices bring to teaching and learning in the higher education sector. Focusing around two years of experience at a medium sized American University, Abilene Christian University (ACU) in Abilene, Texas, with a pervasive 1-to-1 environment based on the iPhone and iPod touch, this talk introduces you to some of the research, strategies, and solutions necessary for putting these powerful next-generation tools in the hands of lecturers and students. April 27, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 5 min, 31.2Mb MP3) |
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Writing the Future: How Digital Books Will Change the World Dr. William Rankin, Abilene Christian University, USA A Sydney Ideas Open Event Almost six centuries ago, when Gutenberg's press first made printed information widely available, the world saw an explosion of creativity. Educational, political, and religious institutions that had calcified over centuries were radically transformed as those who had once been excluded found new opportunities to participate. Bill Rankin will explore the ways that books are metamorphosing and consider the rich creative possibilities the new digital Gutenberg will bring in the coming information age. April 27, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 10 min, 33.6Mb MP3) |
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Rethinking Good Governance and Transparency: The China-Latin America-U.S. triangle Dr Adrian Hearn, University of Sydney A Sydney Ideas Open Event Consensual understandings of good governance and transparency are crucial to the international accommodation of China’s economic rise. This presentation examines how conceptions of these terms diverge, generate misunderstandings, and harbour potential for dialogue between key US, Latin American, and Chinese actors. April 15, 2010 (Running time 54 min, 25Mb MP3) |
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Lucan’s epic masterpiece: New works on Lucan's Civil War Frances Muecke and Paul Roche Humanities Salon Frances Muecke and Paul Roche discuss the brilliant young poet of Nero’s court, Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (Lucan), in light of two new publications on his epic poem, De Bello Civili ('On the Civil War'). April 8, 2010 (Running time 32 min, 15Mb MP3) |
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Modernism or Realism? The question in China's quest for modernity through art Dr Yiyan Wang, Chair of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney A Sydney Ideas Open Event How to modernise art for a modern China? What ideas and practices should China adapt from the West? Such questions figured prominently in intellectual debate about modernisation at the start of the twentieth century. This public lecture looks at Chinese art practice and art debate at the time with a focus on the first Chinese national art exhibition in Shanghai in 1929. April 8, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 08 min, 32Mb MP3) |
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Why the clash of civilizations is wrong Professor Peter Katzenstein, Cornell University A Sydney Ideas and US Studies Centre lecture A lecture by one of America’s leading political scientists Peter Katzenstein, is which he provides a critique of the Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilization theory. March 25, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 08 min, 31Mb MP3) |
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A Sydney Ideas Arts Matters Forum Co-presented with the Faculty of Arts and Sydney University Arts Association This forum included leading international political scientists along with Australian academics and researchers in a robust discussion on the state of contemporary feminism. March 22, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 34 min, 43Mb MP3) |
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Telomerase and telomere biology Elizabeth Blackburn The University of Sydney, The Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists, The Human Genetics Society of Australasia, and The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, invite you to listen to a public lecture by eminent Scientist and 2009 Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Elizabeth Blackburn. March 12, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 27 min, 40Mb MP3) |
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A panel on Violence in Modern Aboriginal History Gordon Briscoe, Jackie Huggins, Bob Debus, Peter Read, Julie-Anne Williams Humanities Salon Julie-Anne Williams, Gordon Briscoe and Joy Williams were deeply affected by the policy of separating Aboriginal children from their parents and communities. Bob Debus and Peter Read have been closely associated with the violence affecting Aboriginal Affairs for many years, violence towards to children, on the streets, to young adults, to settlements and missions, and in the cities. March 12, 2010 (Running time 54 min, 25Mb MP3) |
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Meeting the China Challenge: Australia's China Policy in a New Era. A Sydney Ideas Open forum hosted by Dr James Reilly, University of Sydney. Participants included: Professor Michael Wesley, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Dr Richard Rigby, Executive Director of the ANU China Institute, Dr John Garnaut, China correspondent, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Chaired by Professor David Goodman, Chinese Politics, University of Sydney. March 11, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 30 min, 41Mb MP3) |
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Francis Crick: Who was the man who discovered DNA? This richly illustrated lecture seeks to unearth the formative influences that shaped Francis Crick's career, his personality, and his extraordinary qualities as a scientist. March 9, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 27 min, 40Mb MP3) |
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After Copenhagen: Looking for real solutions James Hansen A Sydney Ideas lecture co presented with the USSC and CHAST Monday 8 March 2010 Professor James Hansen, Climatologist, Columbia University and NASA After Copenhagen: Looking for solutions. March 8, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 47 min, 49Mb MP3) |
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The Virtues of Mendacity: On lying in politics Martin Jay Humanities Salon When Michael Dukakis accused George H. W. Bush of being the "Joe Isuzu of American Politics" during the 1988 presidential campaign, he asserted in a particularly American tenor the near-ancient idea that lying and politics (and perhaps advertising, too) are inseparable, or at least intertwined. Our response to this phenomenon, writes the renowned intellectual historian Martin Jay, tends to vacillate-often impotently-between moral outrage and amoral realism. March 1, 2010 (Running time 57 min, 26Mb MP3) |
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Mark Danner Mark Danner is one of the world's most experienced war reporters, and has covered trouble spots such as El Salvador, Haiti, Bosnia and most recently Iraq. In his new book Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, War, a collection of his writings, he develops a unique perspective on the use of violence in these conflicts. February 25, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 9 min, 32Mb MP3) |
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Global warming: how policy can catch up to the science and solve the problem Professor Michael Oppenheimer Michael Oppenheimer was the Lead Author on the Third and Fourth Assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). His scientific understanding of global warming provides a framework for developing response policies at the local, national and international levels. February 23, 2010 (Running time 1 hour 37 min, 89Mb MP3) |
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