TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE

January 14, 1996 Programs

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1100 - 1159 Hour #1 Freedom and Race

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1200 - 1259 Hour #2 Scientific Discovery

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1300 - 1359 Hour #3 Real Bodies

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PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 1:Freedom and Race

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SEGMENT 1:

Eric Foner teaches history at Columbia University. He tells Steve Paulson that freedom has had a twisted and troubled history in America. Foner is at work on a book to be called "The Story of American Freedom."

SEGMENT 2:

We hear an excerpt from Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech; then, writer and jazz critic Stanley Crouch tells Judith Strasser that African Americans are indebted to the European Enlightenment for the freedom they've achieved. Stanley Crouch is the author of "The All-American Skin Game, Or, The Decoy of Race." Also, Patricia Williams, a law professor at Columbia University, tells Steve Paulson that racial stereotyping is as virulent as ever in America and an obstacle to freedom. Williams is the author of "The Rooster's Egg: On the Persistence of Prejudice."

SEGMENT 3:

Pulitzer Prize winning biographer David Herbert Donald teaches history at Harvard and, using newly discovered Lincoln papers, has just written a new biography of Abraham Lincoln. Donald tells Jim Fleming that Lincoln was a lot more than a country lawyer: he was also a shrew political strategist with a deep and abiding moral commitment to the abolition of slavery.

For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number 01-14-A.

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PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 2:Scientific Discovery

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SEGMENT 1:

Archeologist and anthropologist Johan Reinhard tells Jim Fleming about his discovery of an ancient Incan "ice girl" on top of Mount Ampato, a 20,500 foot peak in the Andes. Reinhard works for the Mountain Institute of West Virginia and Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History.

SEGMENT 2:

Her Royal Deepness, marine biologist Sylvia Earle, tells Steve Paulson that it's glorious underwater! She's made deeper and longer dives than anyone and considers the ocean a second home but she's worried about the changes she sees. Also, Cambridge paleontologist Simon Conway Morris talks with Steve about the Symbion pandora - a new life form, the size of a period, recently discovered clinging to the lip of a lobster.

SEGMENT 3:

Science writer George Johnson lives and works in the high desert of northern New Mexico -- along with particle physicists, Tewa Indians, Christian fundamentalists and a Catholic sect called the Penitential Brotherhood. Johnson tells Judith Strasser that what all his neighbors have in common is a struggle to bring order to the world and explain life's mysteries. Johnson's book is "Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith and the Search for Order."

For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number 01-14-B.

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PROGRAM RUNDOWN: HOUR 3: Real Bodies

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SEGMENT 1

Psychologist and teacher Cheri Erdman tells Steve Paulson why we should strive to be healthy, not thin. She's fat, fit, happy and successful, and the author of "Nothing to Lose: A Guide to Sane Living in a Larger Body." On the other hand, Stephen Gullo tells Steve that thin is better, whatever the cost -- and his help costs plenty. Gullo is a psychologist and weight loss coach for the wealthy. His book is "Thin Tastes Better."

SEGMENT 2:

Jounalist Barbara Ehrenreich tells Judith Strasser about the dark side of the American quest for physical perfection -- intolerance of the ugly, overweight or disabled. Ehrenreich's latest book of essays is "The Snarling Citizen." Also, vocational counselor Dan Eckert, (a former jock who now uses a power wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury) tells Jim Fleming how changing attitudes and modern technology have increased the range of options for people with physical disabilities.

SEGMENT 3:

Abigail Padgett has written a series of mystery novels featuring a heroine with manic depressive illness. She tells Judith Strasser that she created the character of Bo Bradley in part to educate people about her disease, and describes how the illness both helps and hinders her.

For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number 01-14-C.

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1996 Books and Authors | 1996 Program Information

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Last modified: Friday January 12, 1996