Terrence McNally

SVEN BECKERT-CAPITALISM: A Global History-learn from the past to reshape the future

Kiyana Williams — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 20:08:34 +0000

SVEN BECKERT, in his latest book, CAPITALISM: A Global History, traces its story across the world since the dawn of the last millennium. He reminds us that capitalism is not natural or inevitable, but a human invention, one that has survived – even dominated – as its form has changed. What can we learn from history? If we invented capitalism, does that offer the possibility we could invent something to replace capitalism or that we could invent a capitalism that values sustainability and justice? You can learn more at svenbeckert.com

JOHN JENKINS-SUMMER of ’71: Five Months That Changed America

Kiyana Williams — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 21:27:06 +0000

I’m one who says the 60s didn’t end until about 1973. John Jenkins was a young journalist in Washington DC in ’71 when some shit was going down. War still raging in Vietnam. Largest mass arrest of protestors in US history. Daniel Ellsberg steals, copies, and delivers the Pentagon papers and the Supreme Court rules they can be published. The deaths of George Jackson and the Soledad brothers in California, the Attica riots in New York. Jenkins did the historical research and revisits those eventful months in his new book, Summer of 71: Five Months That Changed America. You can learn more at johnajenkins.com

RICHARD HEINBERG (2003) died in July-A NEW COVENANT WITH NATURE, THE PARTY’S OVER

Kiyana Williams — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 20:42:44 +0000

RICHARD HEINBERG, a guest a handful of times on this show died July 19th, just two weeks after a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He was often a few steps ahead of whatever the current conversation might be regarding humanity’s relationships with nature, energy, power, and each other. His books include A New Covenant with Nature; Cloning the Buddha: The Moral Impact of Biotechnology; The End of Growth; Our Renewable Future, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival, and The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies – the one we talk about in this episode. It was recorded in 2003, a month into the war on Iraq.

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DANIELLE ALLEN-RADICAL DUKE (new book) & the work of Renovating Democracy

Kiyana Williams — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 12:55:45 +0000

I talk with Harvard professor, DANIELLE ALLEN about (1) her latest book, RADICAL DUKE, about the third Duke of Richmond who inspired the colonies’ independence and their establishment of representative democracy; and (2) her ongoing work on the promise and challenges of democracy today. She’s Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation and the Democratic Knowledge Project at Harvard and Founder and Chairperson of Partners In Democracy, where she advocates for progress towards a new social contract that serves and includes us all. Learn more at danielleallen.scholars.harvard.edu, The Atlantic Magazine and The Renovator Substack.

ARI BERMAN-Trump’s threats to the 2026 mid-term elections

Kiyana Williams — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 19:19:40 +0000

Trump makes a prime-time speech, lying once again about fraud in previous elections and previewing his intention to disrupt and disable the 2026 mid-terms. Time to talk with ARI BERMAN, national voting rights correspondent at Mother Jones‘ and the author of Minority Rule and Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America. How realistic are our fears? What are Trump’s most likely methods of attack? What scares Berman the most? How are we responding? What can listeners do? You can learn more at aribermanauthor.com

1) ROBERT THURMAN (2011), Buddhist teacher, died in June – 2) JONATHAN SCHELL (2004), late journalist & author reflects on 9/11

Kiyana Williams — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 11:58:49 +0000

We lost perhaps our nation’s most influential Buddhist with the death of ROBERT THURMAN June 16th at the age of 84. A former monk, ordained and partly trained by the Dalai Lama, left the monastery, earned a Harvard doctorate, taught at Amherst & Columbia, and wrote, edited and translated more than 20 books on Buddhism, both scholarly and for the general public. He was a founder of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies at Columbia as well as Tibet House US in New York City, where he served for decades as president. In the first half of this episode you’ll hear our conversation recorded in 2011.

In the second half you’ll hear my 2004 conversation with the late JONATHAN SCHELL about his book, A HOLE IN THE WORLD: An Unfolding Story of War, Protest, and the New American Order – his reflections on the experience of 9/11 and its aftermath. Schell passed away in 2014. Both wise men dedicated to working for a better world. This is the first time the Schell conversation has been available as podcast.

CORY DOCTOROW – AI-Use it. Don’t buy the hype. Don’t feed the bubble.

Kiyana Williams — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 20:50:26 +0000

I learned a lot in this conversation with CORY DOCTOROW and in his new book, THE REVERSE CENTAUR’S GUIDE TO LIFE AFTER AI. Rather than fear AI, Doctorow uses it daily, but he is also skeptical. He reminds us that nothing about the way things are unfolding with AI, technology, or society is inevitable, though that is the contention of those who profit from it. He warns that, if – in protesting AI’s threat – we buy into worst-case scenarios of its power, we promote its value.. More than what AI does, we need to pay attention to who AI does it to, and who AI does it for. Timely and useful. His website is craphound.com and he maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. (Photo: digital trends.com)

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ROBERT COLES (2008) – renowned psychiatrist & Pulitzer-winning author died June 4 at 97

Kiyana Williams — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 19:49:01 +0000

Here’s my 2008 conversation with ROBERT COLES, child psychiatrist, Harvard Professor, and author of 75 books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning six volume Children of Crisis. He died June 4 at the age of 97. He spent a lifetime listening to people – often those ignored by others – and told their stories. Coles was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1981, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998, and the National Humanities Medal in 2001.

PROTEST-ANNIE LEONARD & ANDRE CAROTHERS-Respect It. Defend It. Use It.

Kiyana Williams — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 22:20:04 +0000

I speak with ANNIE LEONARD & ANDRE CAROTHERS. She created the video documentary, The Story of Stuff, and led Greenpeace US for a decade. He worked for Greenpeace for 13 years and co-founded the Rockwood Institute. The new book they’ve written together, PROTEST: Respect it. Defend it. Use it includes brief essays on 42 protests from the 1700s to the present. It offers history and how-to, challenge and inspiration. Protest works. Protest is necessary. And as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, the right to protest is under attack. The website theprotestbook.com offers resources and links to help you to act.

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ANDREW WEIL MD (2003)-America’s most trusted doctor of integrative medicine

Kiyana Williams — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 03:18:18 +0000

When many believe HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – lacking in scientific, medical or public health training – is giving alternative medicine a bad name, here’s my 2003 conversation with Andrew Weil MD. We trace the evolution of Dr. Weil’s work and thinking from his earliest understandings of health and healing to his ongoing commitment to train a new generation of physicians. Weil’s definition of integrative medicine: rooted in the connection of medicine with nature and the natural healing potential of the organism, it utilizes the magic of the doctor/patient relationship to treat the whole person. On this episode, Weil, Spontaneous HealingHyla Cass MD joins the conversation.

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