Added 6.26.18. Wars: they just don’t make ’em like they used to. Milt explores the wars of antiquity with noted historian John Lendon of the University of Virginia. Lendon is author of, among other things, the book “Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War.” Milt and Lendon traverse a range of related topics, including ancient Greek history and historians, the tensions between Athens and Sparta, and the role of honor in provoking war. The conversation leads into more contemporary history, and the contours of war in the 20th Century and today.

Added 6.26.18. True, four of the last seven governors of Illinois have gone to jail. And Chicago has long been a leading-edge laboratory of institutionalized political corruption. But don’t overlook the suburbs. Developing this theme further – with plenty of additional insight on state and Chicago corruption – are Milt’s two guests, in this 2012 episode. They are Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman who is chair of the political science department at University of Illinois, Chicago; and David Ellis, former chief counsel to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and lead prosecutor of now-jailed former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Simpson reports on findings of a new report he spearheaded, that “corruption is rife” in 61 Chicago suburbs.

Added 6.12.18. Bite into this: in-vitro meat as a real-meat, more-humane alternative to fare from the slaughterhouse.  More ostrich meat in your diet, along with fish raised indoors, and tasty, satisfying wheat-less bread “baked” through fermentation of raw ingredients. Let’s chew on a few more things. How do we make tomatoes great again, and advance real sustainability in the way we foster the world’s food supply, all as cooking becomes more an intersection of art and science – rather than just an art, as in years past? The food of the future and the future of food are closely intertwined, as Milt and his guests reveal in this 2010 conversation. Guests are Josh Schoenwald, author of “The Taste of Tomorrow: Dispatches From The Future Of Food;” Chef Chris Koetke, Vice-President of Strategy and Industry Relations at Kendall College and its School of Culinary Arts, and the late Chef Homaro Cantu, who trained with the legendary and innovative Chef Charlie Trotter, and later opened the restaurants Moto and iNG in Chicago.

Added 6.12.18. Milt in this 2011 interview debriefs Sara Anson Vaux, who taught religious studies and film at Northwestern University and authored the treatise, “The Ethical Vision of Clint Eastwood.” She contends Eastwood’s films, while broadly understood to be ripping good stories, also cover important ethical, religious, and philosophical grounds which should not be given short shrift. She and Milt delve into motifs in Eastwood’s ouvre including divine judgement and the hereafter, reconciling terrible misfortune with a divine presence, and the moral implications of war. The proceedings are further enlivened by audio clips of various signal moments from some of the Eastwood films under discussion.

Added 6.12.18. Foreshadowing much of the current conversation about the Middle East, Milt plus guests Charles Lipson and Laith Saud explore pressing questions such as, do Israel and Iran actually have any real intention of working out their differences, or is all the rhetorical jousting really just for political affect? How should Israel think about compromise with Palestine while still preserving the Israeli state? Is Israel less a “Jewish” state than a modern, vibrant and pluralistic democracy? Is the dichotomy between Sunni and Shia Arabs greatly overplayed? What role does Islamic fundamentalism continue to play in the Middle East? Does not the U.S. allow for easier assimilation by Arab immigrants than, say, France, because its jobs and housing markets are markedly more open? This and much more is on the table. Lipson is a distinguished expert on foreign affairs, prolific writer, and former chair of the political science department at the University of Chicago. Saud brings a unique perspective to the conversation, having been born in Iraq and migrated with his parents to the U.S. at an early age. He is an assistant professor of religious studies at DePaul University, and founder of a company which provides counsel to media and NGOs focused on the Middle East.

Added 6.5.18. The practice of psychiatry in recent decades has grown in sophistication and diagnostic capabilities. Milt in this 2010 probe discusses the state of modern psychiatry with three prominent researcher-practitioners. They are: Mani Pavuluri, Founding Director of the Pediatric Mood Disorders Program, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine; Will Cronenwett, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavorial Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; and Murali Rao, Department Chair, Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Loyola University Medicial Center. They delve into a range of topics, including: the hard-wiring of the human brain; how advances in biomedical technology and analysis have fostered earlier detection and treatment of psychiatric pathologies; and the ongoing tension between  the need for involuntary treatment and the individual’s right to autonomy. Discussants also briefly wrestle with whether, in fact, the world’s vast proportion of psychiatrists are based in the United States, and what that might mean.

Added 6.5.18. Some of the major charismatic preachers who made a difference in religious life, have also changed the course of history.  For starters, think Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohammed, and Rabbi Hillel. How exactly does this happen, and why? Milt explores the anatomy of religious leaders’ influence on society. He is joined by Chicago Tribune religion reporter Manya Brachear Pashman, and Dartmouth religion professor and author Randall Balmer.  He is the author of numerous books, including, “The Making Of Evangelism,” and “God In The White House: How Faith Shaped The Presidency From John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush.”

Added 6.5.18. Was the U.S. Civil War really inevitable, or was the firing of the first shots of battle in Charleston in 1861 more contingent – upon a series of events and circumstances that might very well have played out differently? Milt in this 2011 conversation digs deeper into the roots of that epic conflict, with two distinguished guests. One is Adam Goodheart, lecturer in history and American Studies, and Director of the C.V. Starr Center For The Study of the American Experience, at Washington College in Maryland. He is also author of the bestseller, “1861: The Civil War Awakening.” Also joining in is Bruce Levine, then professor of history and African-American studies at University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Among his published books was, “Half Slave, Half Free: The Roots Of The Civil War.”

Added 5.29.18. Milt talks in 2010 with noted scholar Richard Rhodes, who had just authored his fourth major book on nuclear weapons. It was titled, “The Twilight Of The Bombs: Recent Challenges, New Dangers, And The Prospects For A World Without Nuclear Weapons.” Rhodes won the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction for his 1986 book, “The Making of the Bomb.” It covered the discovery of nuclear fission in the 1930s, the Manhattan Project, and the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.

Added 5.29.18. Milt talks with numismaticists Robert Feiler and Robert Leonard of the Chicago Coin Club about how exactly it is that money makes the world go round. In this 2010 conversation, they delve into the history of currency, its political uses, how its value is actually guaranteed, and the role of currency in economic  considerations including debt, purchasing power and inflation.