Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Paul Butler, Albert Brick Professor Law at Georgetown, for a discussion of the law and blacks. Topics covered include formative experiences including influence of his parents, his upbringing in Chicago, his education, and his work as a prosecutor. Emphasis is on how and why his ideas about reform and activism evolved as he came to understand black confrontation with the law. Series: "Conversations with History" [Show ID: 35257]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Samuel Bowles, Research Professor and Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute, for a discussion of his intellectual odyssey and his most recent book The Moral Economy. Topics covered include the influence of parents, his encounters with Nehru and Martin Luther King, and his education. He addresses the necessary changes in the agenda of economics as it grapples with the limits of incentives and the opportunities for...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Jennifer Doudna of UC Berkeley for a discussion of her intellectual odyssey that led to the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary tool for gene editing. In the conversation, they explore the implications of CRISPR-Cas9 for agriculture, biotechnology and biomedicine. They also discuss how education and public advocacy can broaden insight into the ethical and policy dimensions of the biological revolution that is upon us. Series:...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT for a discussion of her intellectual odyssey. In the conversation topics covered included her formative experiences, her education, and the evolution of her thinking about the impact of the objects of the cyber world--computers, internet, cell phones, and robots--on the essential elements of identity formation--solitude, conversation, and empathy....

Harry Kreisler welcomes former Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm for a discussion of lessons learned from her political career. She recalls her formative experiences, analyzes the essential qualities of leadership, and recounts the cascade of crises she confronted as a governor because of the failure of Michigan to recognize and adapt to challenges posed by international economic competitiveness and technological innovation. Leading at a time of structural manufacturing decline, she had...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Eugenie C. Scott, Founding Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, for a discussion of the attack on science especially in the debate on teaching evolution in public schools. Reflecting on the trajectory of her career, she discusses the work of the National Center and its role in supporting the teaching of science through mobilizing supporters in local communities and defending scientific curricula in the courts. She then...

Harvards Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, offers advice to students on choosing a field of study. Series: "Conversations with History" [Show ID: 34038]

Conversations host welcomes Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College, London, for a discussion of his new book, The Future of War, A History. Sir Lawrence reflects on the historical perspective he brings to topics such as strategy and war. Emphasizing the importance of understanding patterns and context through the study of history, Sir Lawrence analyzes what we can learn through a focus on ideas that shape thinking about war. What are the origins of these...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes David Cole, National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union for a discussion of two of his ten books-- his first book, No Equal Justice, and his most recent, Engines of Liberty. The conversation begins with his reflections on his formative years and the skill set and temperament appropriate for a constitutional lawyer. It then turns to the work of the ACLU and his role as national legal director. On the issue of criminal justice, Cole...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Michael Warner, the Seymour H. Knox Professor of English and American Studies, at Yale University, and the 2018 Tanner Lecturer at Berkeley. The conversation focuses on Professor Warner’s intellectual odyssey from a Pentecostal upbringing to an Ivy League professorship of American literature. The conversation includes discussion of his scholarship on the reciprocal influence of colonial printing and the development and assertion of democratic values;...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes New Yorker staff writer George Packer for a discussion of the US political landscape. Packer recounts the insights he derived in researching and writing The Unwinding, his 2013 book about the US in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse. In the conversation, he traces the rise of the white working class, the failure of the Democratic Party to address their interests, and the emergence of Trump as a representative of enraged voters in the 2016...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Deborah Tannen, University Professor, Georgetown University, for a discussion of her intellectual odyssey. Topics covered include: formative experiences; the concept of conversational style; the skills and temperament desirable for work in linguistics; the examples of applying concepts in her work in understanding communication between men and women and in her work in understanding the erosion of civic discourse; and using linguistics to understand...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Arlie Hochschild for a discussion of her book "Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right." Hochschild discusses formative influences shaping her intellectual journey, describes her pioneering work on the sociology of emotions, and traces the evolution of her methodology. She then explains the decision to pursue her study of the American right in Louisiana beginning in 2011; how she undertook an empathetic...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harold Smith, Distinguished Scholar at the IGS at Berkeley. Reflecting on his odyssey from university professor to Washington where he served as defense consultant and assistant Secretary of Defense 1993-1998), Smith explains the what, how and why of the implementation of the Nunn Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program. He concludes with reflections on lessons learned and advice to students preparing for a future in defense and foreign...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Elliot Abrams former deputy National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush for a conversation on the values and interests that define U.S. foreign policy. Reflecting on his formative experiences, he recalls the influence of his parents, his education, and his work experiences under Senators Jackson and Moynihan. After discussing the skills and temperament necessary for the work of foreign policy, he analyzes the challenges of navigating the...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Marion Nestle, Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition at New York University. Professor Nestle reflects on the evolution of her thinking on the interplay between nutrition studies and the politics of food. She discusses the environment of the food industry producing in a highly competitive environment where profits are paramount and public health is not a priority. Advertising and lobbying are important tools at their service as they...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes historian Niall Ferguson of the Hoover Institution who is the 2016 Underhill Lecturer at Berkeley. After discussing the importance of Anglo-American Studies and the wave of populism sweeping the West, including Brexit and the Trump phenomena, the conversation turns to an in depth look at Ferguson’s recent book, “Kissinger, 1923-1969, The Idealist.” Ferguson details the evolution of Kissinger’s thinking about international affairs up until the time he...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harvard Professor Annette Gordon-Reed for a discussion of her work as a lawyer/historian focusing on the contradictions in the life of Thomas Jefferson. Topics covered in the conversation include how her training as a lawyer empowered her to overturn the conventional historical view of the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Professor Gordon-Reed highlights the racism embedded in Jeffersonian historiography; ignoring, for example,...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes filmmaker Oliver Stone for a discussion of his career as director, screenwriter, and producer. Stone describes formative experiences, talks about different aspects of the filmmaking process including working with actors, writing screenplays, and postproduction. He focuses on the themes that have drawn him, and emphasizes the distinction between a historian and dramatist who works with historical materials. He concludes with a discussion of recent...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Didier Fassin, James D. Wolfensohn Professor, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, for a discussion of the interplay between ethnography and theory in understanding public institutions such as policing and prisons and international engagement such as humanitarianism. Fassin explains how immersion in these public institutions and endeavors when combined with sociological theory and history, highlights the disjunction between reality...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Ralph J. Cicerone, President of the National Academy of Sciences, for a discussion of the challenges facing the scientific community. Cicerone describes his research interests and explains the qualities of a scientist and what makes science a unique enterprise. He also focuses on leadership in science discussing his work at UC Irvine to establish a department of geosciences and his goals as President of the National Academy of Science and Chair of...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, for a discussion of his research on the brain. Professor Ramachandran describes his formative experiences, the richly textured methodology that forms his approach to the study of the brain, insights he has gained from studying phantom limbs, mirror neurons and synesthesia. He concludes with speculation on the origins of creativity and...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Berkeley’s 2016 HarvEst Distinguished Women Lecturer, Frances Dinkelspiel, for a discussion of her work as an author and journalist. Dinkelspiel reflects on the skills and temperament required in journalism and highlights the particular challenges posed by online journalism. She describes the history of Berkeleyside, the online news site she founded to cover the city of Berkeley. The conversation includes a discussion of her book on her great...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes India’s distinguished journalist Rajdeep Sardesai for a discussion of how India is changing and how a changing news media reports its story. Sardesai reflects on the evolution of his career and the lessons he has learned about covering politics in India. He describes the importance of the 2014 national elections. Sardesai also compares Modi the candidate and Modi the Prime Minister emphasizing political style, strengths and weaknesses, and the major...