Uncommon Ground, Pt1
In the wake of shocking violence at abortion clinics, two apparent enemies — women representing pro-choice and pro-life factions in the Bost...
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Society & Culture
Humankind on Public Radio
Weekly podcast from public radio’s award-winning program Humankind
Episodes
20 of 98 episodes
The Power of the Pardon, Pt2
In today’s pay-to-play political environment, and with almost no rules, is the pardon ripe for abuse? In effect, it’s a “get out of jail fre...
The Power of the Pardon, Pt1
The Constitution allows the president to grant pardons – originally intended as a way to show mercy. But is the pardon ripe for abuse? Hear...
Bill Siemering
Hear Bill Siemering, the visionary who helped to found NPR and wrote its initial mission statement, articulate the important role public bro...
Breaking the Cycle
The stories of people in recovery from alcoholism, who had to work through denial and sometimes harsh consequences on the road to sobriety,...
The Social Brain
Daniel Goleman is a former New York Times science reporter specializing in how brain function affects the way we feel and perceive life, par...
Facing the Unthinkable
The 2023 film ‘ Oppenheimer’ reminds us of our unfinished business in the nuclear age. Hear Ira Helfand, an emergency room physi...
The Power of Belief, Pt2
We travel to a Detroit program for pediatric cancer patients founded by a rabbi whose daughter died of cancer. He teaches martial arts to yo...
The Power of Belief, Pt 1
What is the role of a patient’s attitude in facing a serious illness? Are the benefits that many people derive from faith also availab...
Waste and Want
A community service organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts rescues food that would be routinely discarded by grocers, produce companies an...
Judicial Independence, Pt2
Have our courts – intended by America’s founders to be an independent arbiter of justice – turned into another political battlefield? Are to...
Judicial Independence, Pt1
Have our courts – intended by America’s founders to be an independent arbiter of justice – turned into another political battlefield? Are to...
Home Cooking
We explore the significant benefits of home-cooked meals, including improved family dynamics, greater likelihood of healthy ingredients, low...
Income Inequality
We consider the dramatic increase in income inequality—now at levels that preceded the Great Depression—and how this wealth gap relates to a...
Generous Giving
We examine current trends in charitable giving by individuals and foundations with Stacy Palmer, long-time editor of The Chronicle of Philan...
Journey of the Deaf-Blind
We hear the story of Mary Gillespie, a woman born with normal hearing and vision, but who developed several illnesses starting at age ten. G...
Culture of Distraction
Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Empire of Illusion”, maintains that our popular culture cannot distinguish betwe...
Aging in Community, Pt4
Nearly 5 million direct care workers assist America’s older adults. They perform their duties in private homes, residential care settings an...
Ahead of His Time, Charles Sumner, Pt2
A look at how slaveholders mercilessly trafficked in human beings, the outrageous Fugitive Slave Act and the time Sumner was viciously assau...
Aging in Community, Pt3
Millions of adult children or other relatives are caring for older loved ones. They do this out of love, but the cumulative burden can be he...