Q&A

Adam Smith, the author of the 1776 book, Wealth of Nations, is called the father of economics. He's often cited as a champion of free markets, an interpretation widely advanced by Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman in the 20th century.

Harvard University lecturer Glory Liu says Smith's work is more nuanced. This week, we talk about her research on Smith as detailed in her new book, "Adam Smith's America"." She argues that while the 18th-century Scottish philosopher is widely known in the U.S. for his association with free markets, he was also a social philosopher concerned with worker rights and economic inequality. 

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Former Wall Street trader turned photojournalist Chris Arnade discusses his book "Dignity," in which he documents the plight of those living on the margins of society in America. He talks about his photos and shares stories about some of the people he befriended during his travels. This program originally aired in October 2019.

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Historian Douglas Brinkley, author of "Silent Spring Revolution," discusses American biologist Rachel Carson's work on environmental pollution and the impact her 1962 book "Silent Spring" had on the conservationist movement in the United States during the following decade. He also talks about the leadership of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon on environmental issues and the landmark legislation dealing with conservation that was passed during the 1960s and early 1970s.     

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Former Boston Globe reporter and biographer John Farrell, author of "Ted Kennedy: A Life," discusses the life and political career of the late Democratic senator from Massachusetts. He talks about the Kennedy political dynasty and the tragedies surrounding Ted Kennedy's life, including the killing of his brothers and the 1969 car accident at Chappaquiddick that resulted in the drowning of 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne.

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Data journalist Elliott Morris, a U.S. correspondent for The Economist, discusses the history of public opinion polling in the United States going back to the 19th century and the development and use of polling since then. He also talks about the accuracy of polls today and the often criticized predictions made by forecasters during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.  

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Amy Gajda, professor of law at Tulane University in New Orleans and author of “Seek and Hide,” discusses the historic struggle in the United States between an individual’s right to privacy and the public’s right to know newsworthy information.

This conversation was originally published on May 15h, 2022.

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Writer and filmmaker William Doyle joins us to talk about his new book "Titan of the Senate." It tells the story of the longest-serving Republican Senator, Orrin Hatch of Utah. Sen. Hatch served from 1977-2019 and passed away at the age of 88 in April of 2022. Mr. Doyle argues that Senator Hatch's legislative achievements earn him the nod as the greatest U.S. Senator in modern times. Senator Hatch authored nearly 800 bills, including bipartisan efforts on HIV/AIDS, generic drugs, civil rights, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He often teamed up with his political opposite, the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.

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In 2007 Civil Rights Legal Scholar Margaret Burnham launched Northeastern University's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project to document the largely unknown Black victims of racial violence in the South between the 1930s and the 1950s and the Jim Crow legal system that supported it. In her new book, "By Hands Now Known" Professor Burnham describes the systemic support for Jim Crow relates to a few of the more than one thousand murders during this period in which the perpetrators were never brought to justice. 

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Former college president and longtime educator John Agresto discusses his newest book "The Death of Learning: How American education has failed our Students and What to Do about it." Dr. Agresto is a passionate champion of liberal arts education at both the high school and college level. He makes the case that political correctness and an emphasis on skills-based degrees has devalued the liberal arts. He asks how we can build contemporary liberal arts programs that educate students and benefit our society. 

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This week, writer Javier Zamora describes the treacherous, three-thousand-mile journey he made from El Salvador to the United States when he was just nine years old. Led by coyotes, he and a group of strangers made three perilous attempts to cross into the US. Javier's parents, who had earlier migrated to California to escape the violence at home, had no idea for weeks if their only child was still alive. In his debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied, and now in his bestselling memoir Solito, Javier Zamora explains that his goal is to personalize the immigration story.

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