Radio Curious

The Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service

“The Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service” is a short book published by three public interest organizations based in Washington DC: POGO, the Project on Government Oversight (www.pogo.org), GAP, the Government Accountability Project (www.whistleblower.org), and PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (www.peer.org). Jeff Ruch is the executive director of PEER and the book’s co-editor.

Originally Broadcast: January 20, 2003

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Socrates’ Way: Seven Masterkeys to Using Your Mind to the Utmost

Socrates of Athens, who lived before the Common Era, is respected as one of the greatest independent thinkers of all time. Socrates himself refused to be recognized as a teacher. Instead, Plato, his well-known student and reporter of Socrates’ dialogues, tells us he asked to be seen as a “midwife of ideas.” Socrates’ passion to achieve self-understanding, and the proper ways to live, continues to be studied and emulated to this day. mom

Socrates recommends “The Trojan Women,” by Euripides. Ron Gross recommends “The Clouds,” by Aristophanes.

Originally Broadcast: January 13, 2003

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Fireweed: A Political Autobiography

The history of women has existed as long as humans have, but it was not until the last half of the 20th Century that women’s history received academic attention. Our guest, Professor Gerda Lerner is a pioneer of the study of women’s history and a founder of the movement to study and record the history of women.

Gerda Lerner led an extraordinary life from April 30, 1920 to January 2, 2013.  She was a historian, author and teacher, and ultimately a professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin.  Her academic work was characterized by the attention she drew to the differences among women in class, race and sexual orientation.

She grew up in Vienna, Austria, suffered in the Nazi persecution of the European Jews, came to the United States as a teenager, and married a writer who was subsequently blacklisted in the 1950s.  She later entered Columbia University in 1958, originally to take a few classes and by 1966 she had earned a doctorate in history.

“Fireweed: A Political Autobiography,”  tells her life story up to the time she enrolled at Columbia University.

Professor Lerner and I visited by phone in October 2002, began with her description why the distinctions among women of class, race and sexual orientation are important.

The book Dr. Gerda Lerner recommends is “A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812″ by Laurel Ulrich.

Originally Broadcast: October 1, 2002

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Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Eric Schlosser, the author of “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal,” writes that it is not only what is served for human consumption that plagues the country, but the art of mass marketing to children – through organized promotions and ads in school buses, hallways and even bathroom stalls – that has serious side effects in society.

Eric Schlosser recommends “New Jack,” by Ted Conover.

Originally Broadcast: August 1, 2002

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Sam Farr is a member of Congress from Carmel, California, representing the central coast of California, as well as a former Peace Corps Volunteer, having served in Columbia from 1964 to 1966. He is one of a few former Peace Corps Volunteers to serve in Congress. At the time of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Peace Corps, in late June, 2002, Congressman Farr and Senator Dodd of Connecticut introduced legislation to increase the size of the Peace Corps.

Rep. Sam Farr (D) recommends “Coast Redwoods, a Natural and Cultural History,” by Sam Liden.

Originally Broadcast: July 16, 2002

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Zoya’s Story, An Afghan Woman’s Struggle for Freedom

Zoya, a member of the RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, tells the story of her childhood, her parents and her parents’ disappearance. She describes the wrath that first the Russians, then the Taliban and then the Northern Alliance have brought to her country. Along with the suffering, she describes the hope and spirit carried in the hearts of the Afghan people.

Zoya recommends the collected speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..

Originally Broadcast: June 18, 2002

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The Coming Collapse of China

Approximately 20% of the world’s population lives in the People’s Republic of China. According to Chinese-American lawyer Gordon G. Chang, China appears from the outside to be politically stable and economically strong. Chang, however, argues that China is in social, cultural, economic and political turmoil. He claims that China’s pending entry into the World Trade Organization will trigger social and political collapse. Gordon Chang has lived and worked in China for almost 20 years, most recently in Shanghai. He is the author of a new book entitled “The Coming Collapse of China.”

Gordon Chang recommends “The Tipping Point,” by Malcolm Gladwell.

Originally Broadcast: September 11, 2001

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Everyday Racism: A Book For All Americans

Racism has too long been a part of the American experience. The Civil War and the Constitutional amendments that followed, the Supreme Court decisions ordering the desegregation of schools, and the Civil Rights movements did not end racism in America. Annie S. Barnes, holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Virginia and is a retired Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Norfolk State University in Virginia. She is the author of “Everyday Racism, A Book for All Americans,” a book based on the racist experiences suffered by 146 black college students. Professor Barnes describes effects of racism on black people and what black people and white people can do to combat it.

Annie Barnes recommends “Driving While Black,” by Kenneth Meeks.

Originally Broadcast: February 27, 2001

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Colors of the Mountain

The Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, led by Mao Zedong, imposed a major change to the nation where one in every four people in the world live. Da Chen was born in 1962 in southern China to a once wealthy family, by that time despised for its capitalist past. At the age of 23, after graduating with top honors and serving as an assistant professor at the Beijing Language Institute, Da Chen came to America with $30 and a bamboo flute. He won a full scholarship to Columbia University Law School, and later settled in the Hudson River Valley. His book, “Colors of the Mountain,” tells the story of his childhood, his life and experiences.

Da Chen recommends “The God of Small Things,” by Arundhati Roy.

Originally Broadcast: July 18, 2000

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