This WINTER Cambridge Forum invites speakers to explore topics including: the 2008 presidential campaign, ending global slavery, climate change, the crisis of American capitalism, bad religion, and how to get our democratic society on back on track to reach its full potential. Join us in Harvard Square or on the radio or on the Internet!

THE BULLDOZER AND THE BIG TENT: Recovering American Ideals

Todd Gitlin, professor of sociology and journalism at Columbia University and one-time president of SDS, brings his political insights to the 2008 presidential campaign on the eve of the February 5 super-primary. Why have Republicans been so much better than Democrats at getting and exercising power? What does the Democratic Party need to do to change that?

» Book signing courtesy of Harvard Book Store

» press release » Wednesday, January 30th @ 7:30p

ENDING SLAVERY

International human rights worker, President and co-founder of Free The Slaves, Kevin Bales presents a 25-year plan to end global slavery and rebuild the lives of 27 million held in slavery today. What actions by governments, NGOs, businesses, and individuals are required to bring an end to more than 5,000 years of human bondage?

» press release

» Wednesday, February 6th @ 7:30p

FAITH AND POLITICS AFTER THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

Bestselling author, theologian, and founder of Sojourners, Jim Wallis discusses the end of the religious right’s dominance in American politics and looks forward to a new role for faith in American society. What happens when politics fails to solve our most pressing problems? What role can spirituality play in public life?

» DONATION REQUESTED at the door. $5 suggested

» press release » Monday, February 11th @ 7:00p

PLAN B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization

Environmental guru Lester Brown proposes a plan of action to address the challenges of climate change. How can nations cut carbon emissions by 80% by the year 2020? What are the economic and political prospects for mobilizing the world to achieve Plan B 3.0?

» Co-sponsored by the Harvard Book Store

» press release » Friday, February 22nd @ 7:30p

GETTING A GRIP ON DEMOCRACY

Visionary social activist Frances Moore Lappé challenges citizens to examine their underlying assumptions and think about fear, power, democracy and hope itself in new ways. She argues that replacing a vicious “circle of powerlessness” with a virtuous “circle of empowerment” enables a democratic society to reach its full potential.

» Co-sponsored by Food For Free
» press release » Wednesday, March 19th @ 7:30p

TIBET: Lens on Human Rights in China

Lobsang Sanjay, Senior Fellow of the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School, discusses Tibet. Using Tibet's status as a starting point for examining China's commitment to human rights, Sanjay explores how Tibet's situation illuminates shortcomings as well as strengths in international law and politics.

» Co-sponsored by Mullane, Michel & McInnes, Counselors at Law
» press release » Wednesday, March 26 th@ 7:30p

AMERICAN BLANDSCAPE: Risky Writing and the Forces That Silence It

A panel of authors and editors discuss the barriers to getting "risky" and important work published. The importance of politically challenging fiction and poetry, from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin to Allen Ginsburg's Howl is undeniable. But has such writing been effectively muffled by current trends in publishing? What is the cultural impact of such censorship? What can an individual writer of conscience do?

»Co-sponsored by PEN-New England, as part of the Freedom to Write series.
» press release » Thursday, April 10th@ 7:30p

BAD MONEY

Best-selling author and political commentator Kevin Phillips exposes the crisis of American capitalism. How has the interaction among reckless financial dealings, excessive debt, worn-out politics and global over-reach creates an Achilles heel for U.S. national security? What challenges does the threat of “bad money” pose for the 2008 presidential candidates? And for the new administration in 2009?

» press release » Tuesday, April 15th@ 7:30p

BAD RELIGION

Evolutionary biologist and punk rocker Greg Graffin receives the 2008 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism. The lead singer and songwriter for Bad Religion, arguably America’s most influential punk rock band of the past generation and professor of life sciences at UCLA, Graffin explores the philosophies underlying human creativity in the sciences and in the arts.

» Co-sponsored by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard

» press release » Saturday, April 26th @ 7:30p

PLANET WALKER

Author and environmental activist John Francis gave up motorized transport and began to walk everywhere after a major oil spill in San Francisco Bay in the early 1970s. His "planet walks" call attention to the impact human beings have on the earth and promote a new sense of responsibility for the planet's health.

» Co-sponsored by Lesley University, Natural Science and Mathematics and the Friends of Alewife Reservation.
» press release » Wednesday, May 14 th @ 7:30p

::::::: RECENT CAMBRIDGE FORUM EVENTS (2007) AVAILABLE ON CD :::::::

Letters To A Young Teacher

Jonathan Kozol discusses his latest book, inspired by his letters to Francesca, a first grade teacher at an inner-city school in Boston. In Letters To A Young Teacher, Kozol tackles a number of the controversial issues: the mania of high-stakes testing that turns many classrooms into test-prep factories where spontaneity and critical intelligence are no longer valued, and the inequalities of urban schools that are once again almost as segregated as they were a century ago. Kozol also portrays the happiness of teaching children, and their ability to overcome their insecurities when they are in the hands of an adoring and hard-working teacher.

PUBLIC POET: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at 200

Director of the National Endowment for the Arts and Longfellow scholar Dana Gioia revisits the work of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with a group of poets, writers, political leaders and educators. What does Longfellow’s work say to the 21st century reader? Is there a place in our technological age for public poetry?

» Co-sponsored by the Longfellow National Historic Site, the American Poetry Foundation, and the Paul Revere House

A Liberal Speaks

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and co-founder of The American Prospect, Paul Starr discusses Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism. Delving into the history of liberal philosophy, Starr asks what traditional liberalism has to offer modern America.

The West And China: Divergence And Convergence

Economic historian Niall Ferguson examines the impact of China’s economic strength on the international economy. How has China made its presence felt through manufacturing, its trade surplus, monetary policy, and acquisition of Western corporations?

In The West Bank With Palestinians And The Israelis

Veteran journalist Philip Winslow worked on the West Bank with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency during the second intifada, driving up to 600 miles a week between almost every Palestinian town, village, and refugee camp and every Israeli checkpoint in the occupied territory. His latest book presents a rare firsthand account of people’s lives in this dangerous and contested region. What conditions would be necessary to stop the ongoing violence? What conditions would allow real progress toward peace? book info

Marco Polo

Author Larry Bergreen traces Marco Polo’s journey to China along the silk road. As the West continues to discover China today, this look back at Europe’s earlier encounter calls for a re-examination of our traditional expectations.

The Israeli Lobby And U.S. Foreign Policy

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt ignited a storm of controversy when they first presented their argument that the Israel lobby may be moving American foreign policy in directions that are not in the United States’ best interests. Their new book examines the impact of the Israel lobby on the United States and Israel in greater detail and is sure to provoke a lively discussion.

American Creation

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis tells six stories from the early years of the American Republic. How did the decisions made by the founders affect the shape of the young nation? What were their creative achievements? And their failures? Despite the injustices and brutalities that resulted from the continuation of slavery and the repression of Native Americans, Ellis argues that founders’ strategy rose from a profoundly realistic insight about how enduring social change best happens.

Musicophilia

Neurologist Oliver Sacks investigates the power of music to move us, to heal and to haunt us. Why do humans make music? What does “your brain on music” look like?

Unriddling The World

Why does an author choose to write fantasy? What opportunities does this genre provide for their imaginations? Join Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief of The Horn Book Magazine as he explores these questions with Susan Cooper (The Dark Is Rising) and Gregory Maguire (Wicked), two modern masters of fantasy in literature for children and adults.

The Writing Of Fantasy

Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street

Join Roger Sutton, editor in chief of The Horn Book Magazine. as he leads authors Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising) and Gregory Maguire (Wicked) in a roundtable discussion about the possibilities and problems in writing and reading fantasy for young people and adults.

Unriddling the World: Fantasy and Children

Cambridge Forum presents award-winning author Susan Cooper. Why do children read fantasy? Does an adult understand fantasy in the same way as a child? In what ways does fantasy help children cope with the real world?

Preceded by "Songs and Riddles": a musical introduction by Tony Barrand, singer, dancer and scholar and George Emlen, music director of Revels.

Last Night's Dream

Rodger Kamenetz searches for spiritual truth in dreams. How has the quest to interpret dreams shaped Western thought? How do dreams allow us to communicate with our unconscious selves?

The Missing Class
Princeton sociologist Katherine Newman gives voice to 57 million Americans sandwiched between the middle class and the poor. How do the stories of these families–21 million of them are children– demonstrate the need to think about inequality in a new way. Through the experiences of nine families, Katherine Newman and Victor Tan Chen trace the unique problems faced by individuals in this large and growing demographic—the "near poor"—who have transformed their lives through hard work and determination.

The Cambridge Forum series: Is This America? is made possible in part by:

A Cambridge Forum series of public discussions that examines America's most deeply held values. How can our founding ideals of liberty and justice for all help restore respectful civic dialogue in a time of contentious re-examination of constitutional principles.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Political scientist Paul Watanabe discusses immigrant entrepreneurs with Michael Liu and Ramon Borges-Mendez of the University of Massachusetts, Boston. What contributions do immigrants make to our nation's economy? What's the relationship between immigrant populations and urban vitality?

» press release » This program is funded in part by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.

The Planets

Author Dava Sobel discusses her history of the nine planets of our solar system and the fascination they hold for the human imagination. Sobel traces the lives of each member of our solar family, from myth and history, astrology and science fiction, to the latest data from the modern era's robotic space probes.

» press release

THE SHAME OF THE NATION

Jonathan Kozol documents the reappearance of separate and unequal schooling in our nation's educational system. Gary Orfield of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard responds and moderates the discussion. What factors are driving the reappearance of segregated schools? What impact does this phenomenon have on the quality of our children's education? What does it portend for the future?

THE RAW DEAL: Current Social Security Politics and Policies

Best-selling author Joe Conason examines the campaign for privatizing Social Security. Who supports the privatization movement? And who benefits from it? How has the once unthinkable campaign to change Social Security, the so-called "third rail" of politics, developed support to move its agenda forward? Will the privatization movement regain momentum after the 2006 mid-term elections?

GILEAD

Marilynne Robinson receives the 2005 Melcher Book Award from the Unitarian Universalist Association for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead. Her compelling and insightful reflection on the human spirit documents its search for connection to other human beings and to a spiritual power.

GREEN CITIES

"Transit oriented development" and "smart growth" are new initiatives in urban design aim to create "green cities." Peter Smith of the Boston Society of Architects discusses these movements with Larissa Brown, chief planner for urban design firm Goody, Clancy, and Kristina Egan , director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance. How is it possible to design urban communities that are economically and environmentally sustainable? How do such communities work? Are they coming to your region soon?

ASSESSING THE HEALTH OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Robert Watson, chief scientist and director of the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank and Chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, explores the implications of the 2005 report of the U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. In the afternoon Watson discusses the evidence for global climate change with a panel of scientists. At the evening forum he asks what the future of the earth looks like if current climate trends continue. What have we done to change the global climate? And how can we undo the negative changes we have made?

These RECENT forums can be viewed as WEBCASTS on the WGBH Forum Network:

Democracy in the Age of Dubya
Al Franken, political satirist and author Listen ...

The Realm of Vanishing Cultures
Wade Davis, National Geographic explorer Listen ...

Bits & Bites From Hip Hop Life
Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, journalist and author Listen ...

Little Red Hiding Hood Uncloaked
Sex, Morality and the Evolution of a Fairytale
Catherine Orenstein, cultural critic Listen ...
 

Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building
Toby Dodge, author, ABC News Iraq consultant Listen ...
 
Israel/Palestine: Voices from the Ground
Robert Tobin, editor
Maureen Tobin, editor Listen ...

If you wish to order a CD or cassette of an upcoming program, select from the options below:

Program title:	Select a title: Putin And The Oligarchs Unspeakable: Facing Up To Evil Children In History Losing America The Great Unraveling Hope In A Time Of Fear Homeland African American Lives Many Children Left Behind Benjamin Franklin Media & The Election Artists In Times Of War Children's Literature Understanding The Bible Realm of Vanishing Cultures Censorship: Left&Right Beyond Choice Homosexuality & Civilization Over The Edge Of The World This Just In The Two Income Trap Exceptions to the Rulers Red Sky At Morning Black Interior God's Secretaries Democracy in the Age of Dubya
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	Hope In A Time Of Fear Paul Rogat Loeb , author of Soul of a Citizen, discusses a new anthology of some of the world's most prominent voices of conscience, The Impossible Will Take A Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear. Contributors include Howard Zinn, Jonathan Kozol, Marian Wright Edelman, Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Tony Kushner, Arundhati Roy, Cornel West, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Desmond Tutu. » press release
	Homeland Pulitzer Prize winning author Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson traveled America's heartland after September 11, 2001 and returned with stories about a nation divided. Their stories illuminate the stark conflicts between the haves and the have not's, believers and non-believers, and most importantly those who accept authority and those who question it.» link to photos
	Many Children Left Behind A panel of prominent educators discusses the No Child Left Behind Act. NCLB purports to improve public schools especially the way they serve poor children by enforcing a system of standards and accountability through high-stakes testing and sanctions. Deborah Meier, Monty Neill, and Ted Sizer contend that it is damaging children and schools. They propose alternatives to the current law to better achieve the ideal of a sound education for all children.

Some highlights from last year's programs:

OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Historian Lawrence Bergreen offers a stunning account of Magellan's historic journey, the adventures of his crew, and his own tragic
end in a new book entitled Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe.

This Just In
Veteran journalist Bob Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and moderator of "Face the Nation," reveals insights from his new memoir chronicling 40 years in journalism. How has the business of news influenced politics and shaped public opinion? Have the news media gained too much power?

Artists In Times Of War

A new book from leading American historian Howard Zinn reflects on war, dissent, and the role of the artist, illuminating some of the 20th century's most celebrated voices of conscience, from Mark Twain to Langston Hughes. What is the everyday potential of artists and citizens to create social apertures for change?

 

Directions to Harvard Square By Public Transportation: Take the Red Line to the Harvard stop; Or take any number of buses that come to the Square. Walk a short distance to the side entrance of the First Parish Unitarian Universalist located at 3 Church Street (just opposite the Harvard Square Cinema). To get a schedule or for more information about public transportation, call (617) 222-3200 or (800)392-6100 toll free.

By Car: From the Massachusetts Turnpike (east and westbound): Take Exit 18 (Allston, Cambridge): Go through toll booth, bear right towards Cambridge, then go straight across the bridge over the Charles River, take an immediate left onto Memorial Drive and follow past 1 bridge. At next bridge, take a right on JFK Street into Harvard Square. See above.