STORY IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE

#701 Kylar Broadus
The Human Rights Campaign estimates that there are 2 million transgender people living in the United States, today. Yet Kylar Broadus says the fight for human rights is not yet won as long as transgender Americans lack equal rights under the law.

#702 Elaine Mcmillion Sheldon
Documentary filmmakers take us into the lives of their subjects in a way that the written word can’t capture. We see what they see. We get a sense of the physical space they occupy with our own eyes. We hear their voices. Elaine McMillion Sheldon weaves these elements together in powerful films that explore everything from love to addiction.

#703 Father James Martin, S.J.
In his role as editor-at-large of America Magazine, Father James Martin, S.J., provides a spiritual and human perspective to matters of personal faith and public life.

#704 Zakiya Dalia Harris
“The Other Black Girl” is one of the most anticipated – and critically acclaimed – releases of 2021. Author Zakiya Dalia Harris discusses her book, which is part thriller and part social commentary.

#705 Martin Halliwell
With the advent of effective vaccines, it feels—we hope not foolishly—like the pandemic may be coming to an end. But Martin Halliwell says the crisis in American public health isn’t limited to one particular disease—it’s a theme that recurs again and again over the last century in these United States.

#706 Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman
On more than one occasion, we’ve welcomed guests to this show who engage in “speculative” or “useful” fiction. Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis are the latest, their new book, titled 2034, looks at what a war between the United States and China might look like in the not-so-distant future.

#707 Mohammed Ali Kadivar
Personal conviction and democratic activism often go hand-in-hand. Mohammed Ali Kadivar is both a scholar of democracy and an advocate whose family has long been a vocal proponent of it.

#708 Brian Lamb
Before 1979, the only way to see the proceedings of Congress was to visit the U.S. Capitol. C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb believed the American public had a right to see government working and convinced the cable industry to make it happen.

#709 Tom Nichols
Democracy is under attack—in the former Soviet-dominated lands of Eastern Europe, in Turkey, Brazil, India, and yes, even the United States. Scholar Tom Nichols urges us not to just look for leaders to whom we can ascribe blame, but to look at ourselves and discern our own role in the weakening of America’s democratic institutions.

#710 Craig Whitlock
It’s been 20 years since the attacks of 9/11 and the arrival of American troops in Afghanistan. Now, as American combat troops leave Afghanistan and the Taliban reasserts control, Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock has pieced together the secret history—warts and all—of America’s war in a land long-called “the graveyard of empires.”

#711 Ashish Jha
When schools finished the academic year earlier this summer, they looked forward to the fall with the first cautious optimism anyone had felt in years. But Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, offers the level-headed wisdom that the pandemic simply is not over.

#712 Padma Venkatraman
Critically acclaimed young adult author Padma Venkatraman’s new book, “Born Behind Bars,” set in Venkatraman’s native India, explores universal themes of racism and hope against odds.

#713 Desmond Shum
There is a contradiction inherent in today’s China. The Chinese Communist Party wields total control over the politics of the land, but the state also celebrates and encourages private wealth. Desmond Shum offers an insider’s account of wealth, power, corruption, and vengeance in today’s China.

#714 Judson Brewer
Colleges and universities all over the United States are facing a wave of students suffering from depression and anxiety heightened by the last year and a half of the pandemic. Dr. Jud Brewer says there are things everyone can do to be more mindful, to break bad habits, and to be happier.

#715 Scott Macfarlane
On January 6, 2021, a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. While our attention has been consumed with things like the pandemic, vaccines, and America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, journalist Scott MacFarlane reminds us that the investigation into the events of that day—and the prosecution of those responsible—are just beginning.

#716 Emily Allen-Hornblower & Marquis Mccray
The promise of a liberal arts education has always been the insight offered to us by classic texts about the human experience. Rutgers University professor Emily Allen-Hornblower and her student, Marquis McCray, tell us the appeal is not limited to traditional students in classrooms, but also students learning in environments as challenging as the American judicial system.

#717 Suzanne Simard
Forests have long been celebrated in literature as a repository or life and solitude. But Dr. Suzanne Simard says they are also an important repository of wisdom—a wisdom passed from tree to tree as they communicate with one another.

#718 Robert Hackey & Todd Olszewski
Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much—and, generally speaking, they don’t agree on health care policy. Robert Hackey and Todd Olszewski tell us that there is a rich history and potential for actual cooperation on policies intended to keep Americans healthy and the nation strong.

#719 Shekhar Saxena
Since early 2020, the world has become familiar with the impacts of COVID-19: isolation, mask-wearing, and, for far too many, disease and death. Dr. Shekhar Saxena says there’s another impact we are just beginning to grapple with: the way the pandemic has affected global mental health.

#720 Robert Costa
Every president, every public servant in the United States, raises their hand and takes an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Journalist Robert Costa says the end of the Trump presidency saw an unprecedented threat to the Constitutional order emanating from the White House itself.

#721 Colin Woodard
There are some who argue that the United States of America, as a nation, should be defined by its civic identity—a federal republic whose founding promised equality under the law and liberty to all of its people. But there’s a darker side to American history, too, one built on ethno-nationalism and white supremacy. Colin Woodard traces the rise and fall and rise again of these competing ideas over the long arc of our national history.

#722 Lindsay Crouse
The demands society places on women—the choices they make about their lives, their relationships, and their appearance—can be overwhelming. Lindsay Crouse exposes those expectations to the bright light of day and forces all of us to consider our own roles in them.

#723 Evelyn Farkas
The last 12 months have seen terrible loss from the pandemic, hope rise with the wide availability of vaccines, an open assault on American democracy, and the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. Evelyn Farkas joins us to discuss the stories that marked 2021 and the selection of the Story of the Year.

#724 Alice Hill
The planet is warming. This isn’t conjecture and it isn’t political: it’s the overwhelming conclusion of climate scientists from all over the world. For a long time, the debate has been over whether and how nations can mitigate the threats posed by climate change. But Alice Hill warns that debate needs to be expanded to include a discussion about the things we must do to adapt human existence to a warmer planet.