STORY IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE

#801 Danny Strong
According to the CDC, more than 588,000 Americans have died from opioid overdose since 1999. Danny Strong tells the story of that epidemic in “Dopesick,” a new series on Hulu.
Available: January 3, 2022

#802 Michael Paul Williams
Most Americans want to believe that the United States of America as a bastion of liberal democracy. But Michael Paul Williams is a columnist whose work exposes the illiberal elements in American society, including white supremacy, banning books, and vigilantism.
Available: January 10, 2022

#803 David Mckean
In the 1930s, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt saw war coming with Hitler’s Germany even as he reconciled the isolationism of American politics with his own internationalist instinct. Ambassador David McKean tells the story of FDR’s personal reliance on his hand-picked ambassadors to Europe in the critical years before America’s entry into World War II.
Available: January 17, 2022

#804 Art Cullen
The rise of instant updates from today’s online news sources have left many to regard the local newspaper as a thing of the past. Art Cullen describes how he and his family have kept Iowa’s Storm Lake Times newspaper alive and prosperous in the digital age.
Available: January 24, 2022

#805 Douglas Wolk
Over the past sixty years, Marvel Comics captured the imagination of millions across the world. Douglas Wolk gives us a comprehensive look at the vast, interconnected storyline of “the biggest story ever told” and its impact on American popular culture.
Available: January 31, 2022

#806 Pamela Paul
It’s not much of an exaggeration to say the internet changed all of us and everything around us. Just look at the way we communicate, earn money, date, entertain, and inform ourselves. Pamela Paul chronicles the things we’ve lost in the process—the charm that comes with some uncertainty and the romance of the time before the internet.
Available: February 7, 2022

#807 Tom Kelly and Kevin Hasson
For one generation of Americans, civil and sectarian violence in Northern Ireland was brought into our homes through regular reporting on the nightly news. For a younger generation, it was brought home in the powerful lyrics of the band known as U2. Tom Kelly and Kevin Hasson create street art and murals that remember that era in Northern Ireland’s history.
Available: February 14, 2022

#808 Ruth Colker
Politics has always been a tough business, but in recent years, public insults have become more frequent, more intense, and more personal. Ruth Colker explains this is not an accident, but part of an intentional plan to hijack public issues.
Available: February 21, 2022

#809 Laura Coates
The line between what is right and what is just isn’t always clear. Former federal prosecutor Laura Coates describes how she reconciled her own ideas of justice, the role of law enforcement in our society, and her role in the United States justice system.
Available: February 28, 2022

#810 Megan Ranney
Two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 has taken nearly 1 million American lives. Emergency physician and public health expert Dr. Megan Ranney reflects on the experience of these last 24 months and describes the steps we need to take collectively and individually to finally put the pandemic behind us.
Available: March 7, 2022

#811 David Pepper
Politics, at its best, is about getting things done. At its worst—it’s something much more sinister. Author and political activist David Pepper warns that some politicians are experimenting, now, with autocracy in state houses across the United States.
Available: March 14, 2022

#812 Pete Hammond
The 2022 Academy Awards on March 27 celebrate films exploring topics as diverse as toxic masculinity and environmental catastrophe. Film critic and awards columnist Pete Hammond reviews the nominees.
Available: March 21, 2022

#813 Maddie McGarvey
America is a study in contrasts. From the pomp and circumstance of a presidential inauguration to the reality of hunger across the land, Maddie McGarvey documents life in the United States as only a photojournalist can.
Available: April 4, 2022

#814 Azar Nafisi
Books are portals to other worlds—some real and some imagined. Best-selling author Azar Nafisi reflects on the subversive power of literature from her native Iran to her new home in the United States.
Available: April 11, 2022

#815 Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Tyranny comes in many forms, but its central elements of violence, lost glories, and corruption seem to repeat. Scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat examines the history of those who have aspired to dictatorship, how to resist them, and how those regimes end.
Available: April 18, 2022

#816 Katie Harbath
Social media has been used powerful tool to garner support for political candidates in recent elections. Former Facebook public policy director discusses the broader impact of social media on elections and the risks it poses to democracy.
Available: April 25, 2022

#817 John Atkinson
Cartoons communicate ideas in ways words alone cannot. Canadian artist and humorist John Atkinson shares his unique take on the world through his cartoon series, Wrong Hands creations.
Available: May 2, 2022

#818 Eve Valera
Traumatic brain injuries can have lifelong impacts on cognitive and psychological function. Harvard University psychiatry associate professor Eve Valera studies these injuries among survivors of domestic violence and says they have serious mental health impacts.
Available: May 9, 2022

#819 Rachel Kleinfeld
As American democracy faces a host of foreign and domestic challenges, many are searching for strategies to preserve it. Scholar and activist Rachel Kleinfeld outlines measures all Americans can take to protect it.
Available: May 16, 2022

#820 Darren Linville
Misinformation propagated by foreign governments on social media has had damaging effects on our domestic politics. Clemson University professor Darren Linville tells us how critical the integrity of the information we consume is to our democracy.
Available: May 23, 2022

#821 Anton Troianovski
Russia’s war in Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced millions. For many Western journalists, the war has made it impossible to report from Russia amid a crack-down on independent journalists. New York Times Moscow Bureau Chief Anton Troianovski discusses covering the war.
Available: May 30, 2022

#822 Saskia Wilson-Brown
Our sense of smell has powerful connections to memory. Founder of The Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles, Saskia Wilson-Brown shares the stories scents can tell us and the historical relationship between perfume, access and power.
Available: June 6, 2022

#823 Melissa Bond
Struggling with insomnia and the demands of a newborn daughter and special-needs son, journalist Melissa Bond’s doctor prescribed her benzodiazepines. But when addiction followed, Bond documented her journey to recovery in her book, “Blood Orange Night.”
Available: June 13, 2022

#824 Jessica White
The universe of online video games produces tens of billions of dollars in revenues each year. Jessica White of the Royal United Services Institute describes the presence of extremists in online games and what governments and platforms can do about them.
Available: June 20, 2022