Free Forum with Terrence McNally
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Free Forum with Terrence McNally
Features conversations with people who offer pieces of the puzzle of “a world that just might work” -- provocative approaches to business, environment, health, science, politics, media and culture. Guests have included Michael Lewis, Ken Burns, Arianna Huffington, Paul Krugman, Temple Grandin, Bill...
Episodis Recents
740 episodis
Episode 741: PROTEST-ANNIE LEONARD & ANDRE CAROTHERS-Respect It. Defend It. Use It.
I speak with ANNIE LEONARD & ANDRE CAROTHERS. She created the video documentary, The Story of Stuff, and led Greenpeace US for a decade. He worked for...
Episode 740: ANDREW WEIL MD (2003)-America’s most trusted doctor of integrative medicine
When many believe HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - lacking in scientific, medical or public health training - is giving alternative medicine a ba...
Episode 739: THE FUTURE IS PEACE-AZIZ ABU SARAH (Palestinian) & MAOZ INON (Israeli)
Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah lost his brother to Israeli authorities in the second Intifada. Israeli Jew Maoz Inon lost both his parents to Hamas on Oct...
Episode 738: ASTRA TAYLOR (2020)-WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? Can we revive it? Can it meet our challenges?
Plato cautions that democracy inevitably leads to tyranny because the rich always want to get richer and the poor will follow a demagogue who promises...
Episode 737: BRENDAN BALLOU-WHEN COMPANIES RUN THE COURTS: Forced Arbitration, America’s Secret Justice System - plus private equity, rampant corruption & presidential pardons
I speak with former federal prosecutor BRENDAN BALLOU about a number of things. His first book was PLUNDER: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America a...
Episode 736: 1) CRAIG VENTER-Genome decoder died last week 2) STUART KAUFFMAN-REINVENTING THE SACRED-Two conversations from 2008
1) History-making entrepreneurial scientist CRAIG VENTER, died last week at the age of 79. The New York Times obituary leads with these words, “A risk...
Episode 735: SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE-MICHAEL MANN (Climate) & PETER HOTEZ (Pandemics, Vaccines)
Climate scientist MICHAEL MANN (The New Climate War) has been a target of threatening abuse ever since he led the team that produced the “hockey stick...
Episode 734: Psychedelics - Research and Exploration - 1) CHARLES GROB MD(2012) 2) JAMES FADIMAN (2012)
In “even-a-broken-clock …” news this week, Donald Trump did something I applaud. He signed an executive order to accelerate research and access to psy...
Episode 733: AI, Billionaires, Authoritarians, Artists-JONATHAN TAPLIN-MOVE FAST & BREAK THINGS
When tech billionaires make nice with authoritarians and AI challenges are everywhere, I check in with JONATHAN TAPLIN, Director Emeritus of the USC A...
Episode 732: Tech visionary JARON LANIER(2013)-WHO OWNS THE FUTURE?-You should be paid for your data.
When tech billionaires seem okay with authoritarianism and AI may be today’s existential challenge, here’s my 2013 conversation with Jaron Lanier abou...
Episode 731: REBECCA GOLDSTEIN-THE MATTERING INSTINCT: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us
Let’s get down to basics. Does your life have a purpose? Can you justify your existence? I talk with REBECCA GOLDSTEIN, philosopher, novelist, and Mac...
Episode 730: NICHOLAS KRISTOF & SHERYL WuDUNN (2020)-TIGHTROPE - Deaths of Despair among the Working Class
To remind us what has to heal to put MAGA behind us, here’s my 2020 conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning husband-wife team, NICHOLAS KRISTOF & SHE...
Episode 729: Can US Primary Care Be Healed? TROY BRENNAN MD-WONDERFUL & BROKEN
I talk with TROY BRENNAN, professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and former Chief Medical Officer at CVS Health about his latest...
Episode 728: For Oscar week from the archives: 1) Roger Ebert( 2006), 2) Phil Donahue( 2007)
For Oscar week, two half hour film-linked episodes from the archives. First my 2006 conversation with ROGER EBERT, following that year’s Oscars, where...
Episode 727: BILL HARTUNG & BEN FREEMAN-TRILLION DOLLAR WAR MACHINE-Trump likes using it
TRILLION DOLLAR WAR MACHINE - the title of the new book BILL HARTUNG & BEN FREEMAN wrote together - is about a trillion dollar a year machine for wagi...
![Episode 726: CHIP BERLET(2017)-We look at extremism in early days of Trump One [Chip died in January]](https://assets.podomatic.net/ts/3c/e1/18/temcnally/1400x1400_17700912.jpg)
Episode 726: CHIP BERLET(2017)-We look at extremism in early days of Trump One [Chip died in January]
Here’s my 2017 conversation with CHIP BERLET, investigative journalist, research analyst, activist - and friend - who died January 30, 2026. Over the...
Episode 725: DEBORAH TANNEN-You Just Don’t Understand-35 years exploring everyday conversation
How we “talk” to each other has changed dramatically since 1990 when Georgetown linguistics professor DEBORAH TANNEN brought gender differences in com...
Episode 724: DAVID KIRP (2011), KIDS FIRST: Five Big Ideas for Transforming Children's Lives and America's Future
I believe we need compelling visions of life after the current horror is over. What if we loved our children? How would things be different? Here’s my...
Episode 723: JANINE BENYUS-BIOMIMICRY: Innovation Inspired by Nature-Looking back 28 years after she coined the term
In her 1997 book, BIOMIMICRY: Innovation Inspired by Nature, JANINE BENYUS - biologist, author, and innovation consultant - coined a term and invented...
Episode 722: SHARON SALZBERG (2002)-FAITH: TRUSTING YOUR OWN DEEPEST EXPERIENCE-Finding light in dark times
Here’s my 2002 conversation with SHARON SALZBERG, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society on her book, FAITH: TRUSTING YOUR OWN DEEPEST EXPERIENC...
Episode 721: GEORGE PACKER, THE EMERGENCY-his first novel in decades-Can it cut through our overwhelm?
I speak with journalist and best-selling author, GEORGE PACKER (THE UNWINDING, LAST BEST HOPE) about his first novel in decades, THE EMERGENCY. He fel...
Episode 720: WAEL GHONIM (2012) - REVOLUTION 2.0-How The Internet Helped Spark Egypt's Uprising
As deadly protests engulf Iran and a mass pro-democracy movement seems the path forward in the US, here’s my 2012 conversation with WAEL GHONIM about...
Episode 719: BILL McKIBBEN-HERE COMES THE SUN-Recorded at LiveTalksLA event, 09-18-2025
I talk with BILL McKIBBEN (The New Yorker), co-founder of both the global climate campaign, 350.org, and ThirdAct.org, for folks 60 & above. I did pub...
Episode 718: PAUL GILDING (2012)-THE GREAT DISRUPTION: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring the End of Shopping & the Birth of a New World
Here’s my 2012 conversation with PAUL GILDING, former head of Greenpeace International, about his book, THE GREAT DISRUPTION: Why the Climate Crisis w...
Episode 717: PETER TURCHIN-The historical forces that explain Trump & what needs to change
As one year ends and another begins, many pause to look backward and forward. We’ll do that on a deep historical scale with today’s guest, PETER TURCH...
Episode 716: RICHARD DAWKINS (2006) THE GOD DELUSION-We start w questions & end w awe
As we celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, here’s my 2006 conversation with RICHARD DAWKINS on his best-seller, THE GOD DELUSION. I consider myself spiri...
Episode 715: USArmy Colonel (ret) IKE WILSON-Part 2-Trump’s Abuse of Military + deeper Qs re military
This is Ike Wilson episode # 2. Questions about Hegseth, Venezuela, US cities are bigger than when we spoke in October. We make time to discuss other...
Episode 714: CHUCK COLLINS - BURNED BY BILLIONAIRES: How Concentrated Wealth & Power Are Ruining Our Lives & Planet
This week when we give thanks, let me say how grateful I am to have these conversations about a world that just might work and that folks take the tim...
Episode 713: SHERRY TURKLE(2011)-ALONE TOGETHER: Why We expect More from Technology, Less from Each other
With family gatherings upcoming over the holidays and emergence of AI everywhere we look, here’s my 2011 episode with Sherry Turkle, Professor of the...
Episode 712: MELANIE CHALLENGER-HOW TO BE ANIMAL: What It Means to Be Human
I’m not an environmentalist, but rather someone who works to move society toward a healthy relationship with the rest of nature. The notion that we ar...
Episode 711: DEBORAH TANNEN (2002) - ARGUMENT CULTURE and I ONLY SAY THIS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU
DEBORAH TANNEN, best known for YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND: Women and Men in Conversation, 4 years on the NYTimes bestseller list, 8 months at #1. This...
Episode 710: ANDREW ROSS SORKIN-1929-Are we headed for another crash?
The stock market keeps rising, driven almost entirely by the “magnificent seven” tech giants. No one tries to deny we’re fueling AI and crypto bubbles...
Episode 709: 1) THOMAS FRANK(2004)-WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? 2) PAUL LOEB(2010)-SOUL OF A CITIZEN
Following the largest single day of protest in American history, here’s first, my 2004 conversation with THOMAS FRANK about his ground-breaking classi...
Episode 708: Retired Army Colonel IKE WILSON-Trump’s Use & Abuse of the Military
Trump has ordered troops to LA, DC, Chicago, and Portland. Americans are on the brink of using lethal force against other Americans. Our military are...
Episode 707: Defending nature with their lives-MARTIN GOODMAN-The Extraordinary Story of India’s Bishnoi
These are dark times in the United States, and due to this country’s power and influence, dark times for the planet. This show is about a world that j...
Episode 706: ROBERT WRIGHT (2017)-WHY BUDDHISM IS TRUE-Can mindfulness help us deal with Trump?
Here’s my 2017 conversation with ROBERT WRIGHT on his best-seller WHY BUDDHISM IS TRUE. Wright has been asking big questions for nearly four decades i...
Episode 705: MICHAEL ANSARA-THE HARD WORK OF HOPE-a memoir of a lifetime of activism
In 1969, my senior year at Harvard, anti-war activists took over University Hall and their brutal removal by state troopers led to a month-long strike...
Episode 704: ROBERT JAY LIFTON (2020)-LOSING REALITY-Lifton died last week at 99
Here’s my 2020 conversation with psychiatrist & author ROBERT JAY LIFTON whose work led him into some of history’s darkest corners - Hiroshima survivo...
Episode 703: HERE COMES THE SUN-BILL McKIBBEN-co-founder 350.org, ThirdAct.org
I talk with BILL McKIBBEN (The New Yorker), co-founder of both the global climate campaign, 350.org, and, in 2021, ThirdAct for folks 60 & above. In t...
Episode 702: 1) DOUGLAS BRINKLEY(2006)-20th anni of Katrina, The Great Deluge 2) RAFE ESQUITH(2005)-Hobart Elementary’s young Shakespearians
First half: This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Here’s my 2006 conversation with Douglas Brinkley about his book The Great D...