AUDIO LIBRARY

The Monster
Every era has its monster. A serial killer like Jeffrey Dahmer may fit our contemporary ideas of the monster, but at other times it was Frankenstein or Medusa. Monsters have taken different forms and meant different things over time, but they’ve never gone away. What hold do monsters have on us?
Guests:
Lorraine Daston — Director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen — Faculty member in the Departments of English and Human Sciences at George Washington University
rebroadcast

Economics and the Environment
Environment issues are increasingly viewed in economic terms. How does this affect environmental policies? Gretchen Helfrich and guests examine economics and the environment.
Guests:
Kevin De Luca — Media Studies Scholar at the University of Georgia
Cass Sunstein — Professor in the Law School and the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago
rebroadcast

Sexual Revolution
The 1960s is considered the era of sexual revolution in America, but not everyone felt liberated. Feminists argued the possibilities and limits of sexual liberation for women. What is the revolutionary potential of sex?
Guests:
Estelle Freedman — Historian at Stanford University
Jane Gerhard — Lecturer in American Civilization at Brown University
rebroadcast

Identity and Property Ownership
Owning property can improve your economic status and living conditions. But property can also enhance your social standing in a community. What are the ideas people attach to property?
Guests:
William Schweiker — Professor of Theological Ethics in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago
Sandra Fullerton-Joireman — Political Scientist at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois
rebroadcast

Unemployment
Over the past two years, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost. If the economic significance has changed, what are the social implications of widespread unemployment?
Guests:
Alex Keyssar — Historian in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Michael Piore — Economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
rebroadcast

The Film Flop
The recent film Gigli, trashed by critics and avoided by audiences, has officially joined the ranks of the film flop.
Guests:
Greg Taylor — State University of New York, New York
Amy Taubin — School of the Visual Arts, New York
Jeffrey Sconce — Northwestern University, Illinois

The Professional
From HMOs constraining doctors, to public oversight of accountants, the professions are under a lot of scrutiny these days. What has happened to our trust in professionals?
Guests:
David Wilkins — Harvard Law School, Massachusetts
Andrew Abbott — University of Chicago, Illinois

The Artist
What is an artist? A creative genius? A political commentator? Or a self-destructive booze-hound? Where do we get our ideas of the artist?
Guests:
Carrie Lambert — Northwestern University, Illinois
Catherine Sousloff — University of California, California

The Changing American Suburbs
The suburbs. The term evokes a set of demographic, political, and moral characteristics. Is the image accurate?
Guests:
Eric Oliver — University of Chicago, Illinois
John Logan — Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research, New York

The History of Equality
Equality can mean a lot of things, from the abolition of rank and status to the redistribution of wealth.
Guests:
Daniel Rodgers — Princeton University, New Jersey
Elizabeth Anderson — University of Michigan, Michigan

Women and Comedy
Whether you love Lucy or you can't stand Roseanne, there's no denying that female comedians have played an important role in entertainment.
Guests:
Margaret McFadden — Colby College in Waterville, Maine
Lynn Spigel — Northwestern University, Illinois

Animals and Popular Culture
From Animal Farm to Seabiscuit, are stories about animals really about ourselves?
Guests:
Susan McHugh — University of New England, Maine
Harriet Ritvo — Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts

The State's Interest in Public Health
Everywhere you turn, government is regulating health. It wasn’t always this way. Whether it’s at the federal, state, or local level,
how did the government get so interested in our health?
Guests:
Howard Leichter — Linfield College and Oregon Health and Science University, Oregon
David Rosner — Columbia University, New York

Internal Migration
Immigration can have a powerful impact on the politics and culture of a nation. But internal migration, or the movement of people within a country, is often just as significant.
Guests:
Kathleen Newland — Migration Policy Institute, Washington D.C.
Dorothy Solinger — University of California Irvine, California

Political Rhetoric
There's talk that liberals needs a media outlet along the lines of conservative radio or cable news. But what would a "Rush Limbaugh of the left" sound like?
Guests:
Michael Leff — University of Memphis, Tennessee
Lauren Berlant — The University of Chicago, Illinois

Film Forum: Films about Jesus
Filmmakers invite controversy when they take on the story of Jesus Christ. What’s at stake in cinematic depictions of Jesus?
Guests:
Barnes Tatum — Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina
Jeffrey Mayhan — Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado

Schisms in Christianity
It seems you can’t open the paper without reading about some controversy threatening to divide Christian Churches. This isn’t the first time that Christianity has witnessed internal feuds. But do the current schisms point to a more fundamental-and lasting-cleavage?
Guests:
Lamin Sanneh — Historian at Yale University
John Witte — Legal Historian at Emory University

The Third Way
Bill Clinton and Tony Blair forged this new political path, moving traditionally liberal parties to the center. But with Blair raising taxes, and Howard Dean’s populist campaign, has the Third Way lost its direction?
Guests:
John Stephens — Political Scientist at the University of North Carolina
Robert Lieberman — Political Scientist at Columbia University

The Magazine
Magazines have played a vibrant role in American cultural life, and shaped who we are and what we buy. How did magazines become what they are today?
Guests:
Ellen Gruber Garvey — New Jersey State University
Richard Ohmann — Wesleyan University

Technology and Popular Culture
Fears about technology saturate our society. They have generated government commissions, and sociological studies. But movies like the Matrix, and books like Brave New World have shaped our opinions of changes in technology. What does popular culture reveal about our technological anxieties?
Guests:
Susan Squier — Pennsylvania State University
Scott Bukatman — Stanford University

Video Games
The Sims. Everquest. Grand Theft Auto. Video games are wildly popular with both children and adults. They are growing more complex…and more influential in popular culture. What are video games all about?
Guests:
James Gee — Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
Henry Jenkins — Media Studies Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology