Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

This year the show is celebrating its 20th anniversary and is the only public media in the U.S. that airs simultaneously on satellite and cable television, radio and the Internet. Goodman will share stories about the remarkable leaders and crusaders that have appeared on her show and the lasting impact they have all made in the ongoing fight for peace and justice.

Dr. Cooper, a pediatric cardiologist who goes to Israel and the West Bank as a volunteer to provide care for children in need, is a Berkeley native and an attendee of the Hebrew University. He will discuss his volunteer work in the region, his interest in peace and his latest novel, The Rabbi's Knight, which is set in the Holy Land in 1290 at the twilight of the Crusades. A book signing follows the presentation.

Previously, Michael Waldman traced the ongoing argument on gun rights from The Bill of Rights to the current day. Now, in The Fight to Vote, Waldman takes a succinct and comprehensive look at an even more crucial struggle: the past and present effort to define and defend government based on “the consent of the governed.” From the writing of the Constitution, and at every step along the way, as Americans sought the right, others have fought to stop them. This is the first book to trace the entire story from the Founders’ debates to today’s restrictions: gerrymandering, voter ID laws, the flood of money unleashed by the nonprofit Citizens United, making voting difficult for the elderly, the poor and the young, by restricting open polling places. Waldman describes the precedents for these contemporary arguments. The fight, sometimes vicious, has always been at the center of American politics: from counting slaves but not permitting them to vote, to property-less males, then to free blacks, women, 18-year-olds, and the disadvantaged who were harassed by literacy tests. Now the right to vote is challenged by restrictions on open polling schedules and IDs, plus floods of money. The Fight to Vote, meticulously researched and thoroughly compelling, recounts the ongoing struggle for this right.

But the mentor of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta is hard to forget. In America’s Social Arsonist, Thompson provides a full picture of this complicated and driven man. Raised by conservative parents, Fred Ross disappointed them by becoming a very influential community organizer. His activism began alongside Dust Bowl migrants when he managed the same labor camp that was fictionalized in The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II, Ross worked for the release of interned Japanese Americans, and after the war he dedicated his life to building the political power of Latinos across California, which succeeded after Ross knocked on the door of a young Cesar Chavez and encouraged him to become an organizer.

McDermott’s unique start as a young entrepreneur helped solidify his journey to lead SAP, the world’s largest business software company. Hear his thoughts on leadership and innovation in today’s competitive global market.

As a result, the federal government spends $80 billion each year on the incarceration industry while projects such as improving our national infrastructure and educational systems continue to be drastically underfunded. #Cut50, a national, bipartisan initiative co-founded by Van Jones, is working to safely and smartly reduce the American prison population by 50 percent over the next 10 years. Hear from Van and Shaka Senghor, author of the memoir Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison, about why they believe that now is the perfect time to achieve meaningful criminal justice reform and how #cut50 plans to make it happen. Join INFORUM for a timely, insightful and illuminating conversation about criminal justice reform in America.

They will discuss the elections and political trends which had the greatest impact on California history, and how they continue to shape our lives and the current political landscape. Drawing from primary sources and new interviews, each chapter explores one election, from Leland Stanford's gubernatorial race to Gray Davis's recall, revealing the forces behind the choices made at the polls and their effects upon the intricate game played in Sacramento.

This is the result of many interconnected factors: lack of access to grocery stores in rural communities; an abundance of fast food chains and convenience stores in inner-city communities; and a culture that subsidizes high-calorie, low-nutrient leisure foods instead of produce. As our health suffers as a national community, we are witnessing obesity, heart disease, diabetes become the public health epidemics of this generation. How can we create communities where healthy food is accessible, appealing and affordable? Join our panel of experts as they discuss the current state of the American food system, its impact on our health and on our most vulnerable populations.

The talented duo share the ins and outs of buying, selling, and renovating your home and offer helpful tips to stay on time and on budget.

In a small American town on the verge of dramatic change lives a family whose story you will not forget and a young girl who struggles to escape her parents, siblings, and friends even while she knows how deeply she is shaped and loved by them. Mimi Miller, even at a young age, knows that home is “a place where it’s just as easy to feel lost as it is to feel content.” In Miller's Valley, Quindlen has written an emotionally powerful novel driven by a young girl who experiences first-hand the tension between nostalgia and progress as she tries to build a future for herself.