Free Thinking

Philip Dodd talks to film and television producer Tony Garnett about his career including his early BBC work with Ken Loach, the traumatic death of his parents. Margaret Mead was a famous anthropologist who fought for a seat at the table of international relations for her discipline. Discussing her legacy and the shifting status of anthropology are Peter Mandler, author of a new book about her, and the anthropologist Kit Davies. In his latest book Steve Jones asks how the Bible fares as a scientific textbook. He joins Philip to discuss the science of culture and the culture of science.

Matthew Sweet is on stage at the Theatre Royal Stratford East for a post-performance discussion of The Octoroon, by Dion Boucicault, which can be heard on Sunday 5 May 2013 on Drama on 3.

Simon Schama joins Anne McElvoy to discuss his foray into literature, and the controversy it caused amongst historians. As a new series starts on BBC 2 looking at American Primetime TV, Simon Schama, Alan Yentob and American TV Executive Caryn Mandabach discuss how popular American TV series have reflected American social history. Kamila Shamsie, reflects on Intizar Husain and his masterpiece, Basti, a vivid fictional account of Pakistan from partition to the present that has made its author one of the frontrunners for this year's Man Booker International Prize. David Darcy reviews a musical about the life of Imelda Marcos written by the musician and artist David Byrne.

Philip Dodd, Jesse Norman MP, Lord Maurice Glasman, the author Paul Kingsnorth, theatre director Lisa Goldman, Dr Joanne Parker of the English Department of Exeter University and the broadcaster and historian Michael Wood discuss the enigma of Englishness and its uses as an identity.

Rana Mitter talks to Susannah Clapp with the first review of the National Theatre's production of 'Othello', starring Adrian Lester as the Moor. According to David Boyle's new book, 'Broke', something is killing off the middle classes and to discuss this are Selina Todd and Mark Littlewood. The literary biographer Richard Holmes has taken to the air in his latest book - a history of ballooning and its pioneers. And, as "Who's the Pest?" brings a season of insect inspired events to the Wellcome Collection in London, Rana is joined by Mark Moffett, and Erica McAlister to discuss the hidden virtues of insects.

Matthew Sweet is leading an elite party of literary explorers - Linda Grant, Aminatta Forna, Naomi Alderman and Tim Stanley on an expedition to find "the common reader" -- being stalked by Woolf in the 20th Century and by Johnson in the 18th. Both believed that the common reader "uncorrupted with literary prejudices" was the final arbiter of "poetical honours" so it's a quest that's clearly still relevant today. The question is what does a common reader look like in our digital age? What are they reading? Where? And how?

Anne McElvoy and Susannah Clapp review the west-end play Doktor Glas, starring Krister Henricksson, best known in the UK for his role as Kurt Wallander. Sheryl Sandberg the chief operating officer of Facebook talks about her new book, Lean In, describing how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers and encourages women to sit at the table and pursue their goals. Saloua Raouda Choucair has her first international exhibition at Tate Modern. Richard Cork and Karl Sharro assess her work and examine how she fits within 20th century art history. Thane Rosenbaum and Salil Tripathi discuss revenge and justice.

Rana Mitter discusses the allure of the missing work of art with the writer Rick Gekoski. Are some works of art more interesting in their absence? New Generation thinkers Corin Throsby and Laurence Scott propose the idea that crowd-funding and social media are changing the relationship of artists and their audiences. Rana talks to the playwright Tanika Gupta about her new play for the RSC, The Empress, opening at the Swan in Stratford. And Ian Macmillan and Julia Jordan discuss the films of the experimental writer BC Johnson who would have been eighty this year.

Howard Brenton discusses his new play The Arrest of Ai Wei Wei with Philip Dodd. Are the BRICS countries set to challenge the World Bank, and realise a power shift from the West and Northern hemispheres to the East and South? Philip discusses with Oscar Guardiola Rivera, Andrew Chesnut and Robert Guest. New Generation thinker Jonathan Healey explains how land reforms brought in by Napoleon in Spring 1813 heralded a profound social change that still affects us today. And a review of Gus Van Sant's latest film Promised Land by Lionel Shriver.

Matthew Sweet asks historian Charles Glass, author of a new book on deserters in World War Two, whether desertion is an act of sanity, and not - as some armed forces have tended to believe - a symptom of mental illness. He also talks to Ben Griffin of the organisation Veterans for Peace, who represents soldiers in current conflicts who seek a way out. Hermione Lee discusses the letters novelist Willa Cather didn't want you to read, and Sandra Hebron and Mary Wild review Pasolini's controversial film Theorem.