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June 2001 Shows
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FRIDAY 1ST JUNE
Recently
taped interviews will follow the 7:05pm Cubs game at Milwaukee. Our recent
taped interviewees include BENSON BOBRICK on the English Bible, CYNTHIA
CRANE on Jewish-Christian women in Nazi Germany, TIM FLANNERY on the ecological
history of North America, MICHAEL KLARE on future wars over natural resources,
PAUL ROBESON, Jr. on the early life of his legendary father, RONALD SPECTOR
on the history of 20th century naval warfare, and many more.
Tune in to hear about their latest books.
MONDAY 4TH JUNE
JOHN ADAMS, FORGOTTEN AMERICAN
 As
a one-term president between the giants Washington and Jefferson, even
JOHN ADAMS himself must have sometimes felt forgotten. Yet in his time,
Adams remained a great patriot, theorist and leading sculptor of the Republic.
Tonight we will hear the story of Adams’ life, a story not just about
the founding father and 2nd President of the United States
but a wide-ranging look at revolutionary and early America. Extension
720 is pleased to welcome Pulitzer Prize winner DAVID MCCULLOUGH, author
of TRUMAN, whose latest biography is titled, simply, JOHN
ADAMS.
TUESDAY 5TH JUNE
ODDBALL WISCONSIN (Rescheduled from 22nd May)
 The
World’s Largest Talking Cow? The UFO Capital of the World? The International
Clown Hall of Fame? Yes, these are just a few of the bizarre but entertaining
attractions in the state of Wisconsin. JEROME POHLEN, who has traveled
throughout the Midwest in search of the unusual (and been patient enough
to reschedule this program twice due to late Cubs games), joins us tonight
after a 7:05pm game to discuss ODDBALL
WISCONSIN: A GUIDE TO SOME REALLY STRANGE PLACES.
WEDNESDAY 6TH JUNE
THE SCIENCE OF FOOD
 RUSS
PARSONS, the food editor for the Los Angeles Times, has published a somewhat
unusual book, HOW
TO READ A FRENCH FRY AND OTHER STORIES OF INTRIGUING KITCHEN SCIENCE.
Neither a review book nor a memoir, it is instead a science-based inquiry
into why specific foods taste the way they do and how preparation alters
them. Don’t worry--all this will be helpful in the kitchen. Parsons joins
us along with some local experts in the food and restaurant business for
a foray into food science.
THURSDAY 7TH JUNE
THE FIELD OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: TWO RECENT WORKS
 Milt
has recently recorded two interviews relating to the conduct of American
foreign policy from separate but equally knowledgeable viewpoints. One
of our guests, RICHARD SOBEL of Harvard University, is the author of THE
IMPACT OF PUBLIC OPINION ON AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY SINCE VIETNAM.
The second interview is with WILLIAM SCHULZ, the executive director of
Amnesty International, whose new book is IN
OUR OWN BEST INTEREST: HOW DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS BENEFITS ALL AMERICANS.
FRIDAY 8TH JUNE
Recently recorded interviews will follow the crosstown battle between
the Cubs and the White Sox.
MONDAY 11TH JUNE
THE SEARCH FOR ROOTS
 Tonight
we go in search of ancestral roots. In our first segment, international
journalist FRANK VIVIANO retraces the history, and mysteries, of his family,
leading back to the Sicilian countryside and the birth of the Mafia. His
search is grippingly detailed in BLOOD
WASHES BLOOD: A TRUE STORY OF LOVE, MURDER, AND REDEMPTION UNDER THE SICILIAN
SUN. In our second segment, NEIL HENRY, a professor at the University
of California, reveals the unnerving background of his ancestry. In searching
for his past, Henry, an African-American, discovered the blood of early
white  supremacists.
His story, told in PEARL’S
SECRET: A BLACK MAN’S SEARCH FOR HIS WHITE FAMILY, is far more than
a personal tale; indeed, it has broad significance to the ongoing diversification
of race in America. Join us for these recorded interviews and more.
TUESDAY 12TH JUNE
WEDNESDAY 13TH JUNE
Extension 720 is benched as the Cubs travel to Arizona to take on
the Diamondbacks in two late games.
THURSDAY 14TH JUNE
Milt has something special planned for tonight's full two hour program.
Please check back to wgnradio.com for updates.
FRIDAY 15TH JUNE
THE WORLD OF PSUEDOSCIENCE
 In
considering the unknown questions of the world, the great Scottish philosopher
David Hume noted "the usual propensity for mankind towards the marvellous…that
can never be thoroughly extirpated from human nature." Hume was wary
(and weary) of the human tendency of embracing the mysterious and supernatural
at the expense of the rational. MICHAEL SHERMER, our guest, has inherited
Hume’s skepticism. In fact, Shermer is the Founding Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
of Skeptic Magazine. He has made a career exploring the outskirts
of the scientific world, utilizing his vast knowledge of "real"
science to debunk the pseudosciences, often encountering the utterly absurd
in the process. Tonight we journey with Shermer to THE
BORDERLANDS OF SCIENCE: WHERE SENSE MEETS NONSENSE.
MONDAY 18TH JUNE
The Cubs travel to St. Louis for a three game series with the Cardinals.
Tune in after the game to hear recently recorded interviews.
TUESDAY 19TH JUNE
Taped interviews will follow the 7:10pm ballgame.
WEDNESDAY 20TH
JUNE
Once again, taped interviews will follow the 7:10pm Cubs-Cardinals
game in St. Louis.
THURSDAY 21ST JUNE
MIKE ROYKO, CHICAGOAN
Over the span of four decades, Mike Royko wrote more than 7,500 columns
as a Chicago newsman, mostly with the Tribune. A skeptic and a cynic,
but an indisputably brilliant writer and classic Chicagoan, Royko became
one of the great American commentators of the postwar era. Perhaps his
most famous target was Mayor Richard J. Daley, the subject of Royko’s
scathing book, Boss. Tonight we look at the life and times of Mike
Royko. DICK CICCONE, a great Chicago newsman himself and a longtime colleague
and editor of Royko’s at the Tribune, is author of the new biography ROYKO:
A LIFE IN PRINT. He heads our distinguished panel tonight, which includes
RICK KOGAN and BERNIE JUDGE, both knowledgeable observers of Royko and
Chicago.
FRIDAY 22ND JUNE
KISSINGER ON THE FUTURE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS and
ECK ON AMERICAN RELIGION
 In
our first segment tonight, Extension 720 welcomes back HENRY KISSINGER,
National Security Adviser and eventual Secretary of State under Presidents
Nixon and Ford, and perhaps the most eloquent international affairs theorist
of our time. His newest books queries, quite directly, DOES
AMERICA NEED A FOREIGN POLICY? TOWARD A DIPLOMACY FOR THE 21ST
CENTURY. Our second segment focuses on the increasing diversification
of religion in America. DIANA ECK, Professor of Comparative Religion and
Indian Studies at Harvard, has written a new book detailing the proliferation
of Islam and Hinduism, among others, throughout the  United
States and titled A
NEW RELIGIOUS AMERICA" HOW A "CHRISTIAN COUNTRY" HAS NOW
BECOME THE WORLD’S MOST RELIGIOUSLY DIVERSE NATION. We examine not
only the changing number but the political implications of the shifting
religious affiliations of the American people. Join us tonight for these
interviews and more.
MONDAY 25TH JUNE
THE WORST GENERATION? and more
 "Baby
Boomers who never saw Hendrix, did drugs, locked or loaded an AK-47 in
country or bedded down with a girl named Radiance now all pretend they
did," laments JOE QUEENAN, tonight’s guest in our first segment.
Queenan’s BALSAMIC
DREAMS: A SHORT BUT SELF-IMPORTANT HISTORY OF THE BABY BOOMER GENERATION
is a scathingly humorous commentary of the ‘60s generation by one of its
most cynical members. Join us for this recorded interview and more tonight
after the ballgame.
TUESDAY 26TH JUNE
BOOK REVIEW SHOW
Attention Bookworms! YOUR DAY has arrived! Yes, it’s time once again
for our quarterly book review show. Milt has challenged our traditional
panelists ALAN GITELSON, PENELOPE MESIC, and DAN TUCKER with a wide array
of recent works in history, biography, science, religious studies, and
the arts, plus several works of fiction. John Ruskin wrote: "All
books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books
of all time." We’ll see if any of tonight’s choices reach into the
latter category or if our show becomes, to paraphrase Logan Pearsall Smith,
"the gilded tomb of mediocre talent."
WEDNESDAY 27TH
JUNE
THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN CLONING with guest LEON KASS has been rescheduled
for Monday 9th July.
Tonight: NEWS IN REVIEW
The new Bush administration has now been in place for nearly half
a year (though most of its significant under- and assistant- secretaries
have yet to be confirmed). Since our last review show, the Senate has
changed hands, the tax cut has passed and been signed, President Bush
has returned from Europe still committed to missile defense (among other
issues) and a certain Senator from Arizona has raised enormous speculation
as to his own future. All of these issues and more will be pursued this
evening in our quarterly News in Review program. Among our guests will
be ROBERT SCHMUHL of the University of Notre Dame and CHARLES WHEELAN
of The Economist.
THURSDAY 28TH JUNE
JOE QUEENAN moved to Monday 25th June. Check back soon for details
on tonight's episode, which will follow the 6:05 ballgame.
FRIDAY 29TH JUNE
TRIAL LAWYERS
 STEVEN
LUBET, professor of law at Northwestern University Law School, visits
to discuss his latest book, NOTHING
BUT THE TRUTH: WHY TRIAL LAWYERS DON'T, CAN'T, AND SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TELL
THE WHOLE TRUTH. Lubet
details a series of diverse cases from John Brown to Wyatt Earp to Atticus
Finch. Join us for a look at the lawyer's craft after the 6:05pm ballgame.
Archive of previous show topics:
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