January 2003
Shows
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WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 1ST
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Princeton's JAMES McPHERSON is America's foremost Civil War historian
and author of a new book on the bloodiest day in American history:
September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam. The book is 
Crossroads
of Freedom: Antietam, but we will be looking broadly
at the history of the war and its many personalities--and, most
importantly, at the war's legacy that continues to impact us to
this day.
THURSDAY
JANUARY 2ND
THE CRAFT OF THE HISTORIAN
The American Historical Society’s annual meeting opens in
Chicago tonight, and we have assembled three of the most accomplished
to discuss their craft. Tune in for more details of a program
about a most unusual profession, beginning at 9:00pm.
FRIDAY
JANUARY 3RD
RADIO AND RELIGION
Most people are familiar with Father Coughlin, the demagogic Catholic
priest of the 1930s who revolutionized the use of radio as a medium
for political and religious exploitation. But, as TONA HANGEN
points out in her new book 
Redeeming
the Dial: Radio,Religion,and Popular Culture in America,
the history of religion on the radio is far richer than one might
expect. Protestant radio evangelists like Paul Rader and Charles
Fuller came to dominate the airways in the mid-20th Century and,
in doing so, changed American perceptions of both radio and religion.
Professor Hangen joins us tonight at 9:00pm, armed with many clips
from the evangelical radio of the past and many lessons on the
uses and abuses of media in the American present.
MONDAY
JANUARY 6TH
RESTAURANT REVIEW
According to Frederic Raphael, "Great restaurants are, of
course, nothing but mouth-brothels. There is no point in going
to them if one intends to keep one’s belt-buckled."
Tonight, we'll try to maintain our composure as we look at the
latest in fine dining around Chicago and elsewhere. Our guests
include roving restaurant critics DON ROSE.
TUESDAY
JANUARY 7TH
IRAQ: THE VIEW FROM TWO “REALISTS”
JOHN MEARSHEIMER of the University of Chicago and STEPHEN WALT
of Harvard are the two leading “realist” security
thinkers in the academic world. Both have been frequent guests
on Extension 720 and both share similar views on the question
of Iraq. Those views have recently been revealed in a Harvard
Occasional Paper and in Foreign Policy magazine. They are back
together on the program this evening to present their important
argument. But they’ll have to answer all the tough questions.
WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 8TH
This post-basketball program remains under construction. Check
back to this site for updates.
THURSDAY
JANUARY 9TH
THE BUSH PRESIDENCY: A TWO-YEAR ASSESSMENT
George W. Bush entered the White House nearly two years ago facing
significant problems at home and abroad. But at the outset, no
issue seemed to be of an immediate, historic nature—until
last year. Perhaps no presidency in American history has changed
so much on one day as the Bush presidency on September 11, 2001.
How has it fared? DAVID FRUM worked as a speechwriter during the
first year of this presidency and has now published his take on
the administration in the new book 
The
Right Man. We’ll discuss the accomplishments and
failures of the Bush presidency as we near the halfway point of
this term. And, of course, we look forward to hearing your views
on the same, beginning at 9:00pm.
FRIDAY
JANUARY 10TH
THE RETURN OF BURT WOLF
Our guest tonight is BURT WOLF, one of the nation's most perceptive
food critics. He's recently completed another big PBS miniseries
(titled simply WHAT WE EAT) and is back tonight to discuss how
our cuisine and others (e.g. Chinese, Indian, Italian, and possibly
Patagonian) developed.
MONDAY
JANUARY 13th
INTERNET SPAM
A modern plague has invested our email accounts and warped
the internet: SPAM. What we face and what is to be done will be
among the topics addressed tonight. Guests include ELLIS BOOKER
of Crain Communications, a leading internet expert, and KAREN
BREEN-VOGEL, Vice President of B2B Works, Inc.
TUESDAY
JANUARY 14TH
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Once famed as the empire “upon which the sun never set”,
the British empire is no more. Its long rise and precipitous fall
is one of the great tales in the history of western civilization.
Few historians understand Britain better than DAVID CANNADINE,
our guest tonight. His latest book is 
In
Churchill's Shadow: Confronting the past in Modern Britain,
but we intend to look broadly at the history of the empire and
its inherent flaws that led to its rapid, if heroic decline in
the twentieth century. Tune in at 9:00pm
WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 15TH
A REVIEW OF CHICAGO CRIME
The long and lamentable catalog of Chicago crime is not always
a pleasant topic, but continues to be one of great public interest--and
we'll do another full review tonight with a distinguished panel.
Among our expert guests tonight will be Chicago Crime Commission
President THOMAS KIRKPATRICK and JOHN "Bulldog" DRUMMOND,
perhaps the greatest crime reporter in Chicago over the last half
century.
THURSDAY
JANUARY 16TH
A NIGHT AT THE FIELD MUSEUM
Dating back to 1893, Chicago's Field Museum is one of the great
natural history museums in the world. A leader in the fields of
Anthropology, Biology, Geology, and Zoology, the Field Museum
has thrilled millions of visitors with its brilliant exhibits,
and challenged scientists around the world with its renowned research
exploits and discoveries. We are pleased to welcome its Vice President,
BOB MARTIN (himself a leading scientist at the museum), and three
of its leading scholars, each from quite diverse research areas,
for a look at life inside this great Chicago, and American, institution.
Join us for a night at the Field Museum, beginning at 9:00pm.
FRIDAY
JANUARY 17TH
GREAT MOMENTS FROM EXTENSION 720
We'll be open-line tonight as we play a number of clips from great
guests in recent years, including Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger,
David McCullough, George Foreman, and many more. Tune in for some
great moments from Extension 720, beginning at 9:00pm.
MONDAY
JANUARY 20th
THE
INFLUENTIALS
According to our guest tonight, "one American in
ten tells the other nine how to vote, where to eat, and what to
buy. They are 
The
Influentials." The guest is ED KELLER, CEO of RoperASW,
a global research firm that serves many of the world's leading
corporations and institutions--and utilizes this 10% almost exclusively.
We will examine and test Keller's theory for the full two hours,
beginning at 9:00pm.
TUESDAY JANUARY 21ST
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (Pt. 2)
Two months ago, we welcomed a stellar panel from the Lyric Opera
of Chicago for their annual visit to Extension 720. If that program
didn’t sate your operatic appetite, this evening’s
program should do the trick. SHERRILL MILNES is perhaps the most-renowned
baritone in opera and still active. A Chicago native, now affiliated
with Northwestern University, Milnes will join us for another
night of opera, as we’ll focus on the opera of yesterday
and how it stacked up against today’s standards.
WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 22ND
“LET’S GO” GLOBETROTTING
Thomas Beecham once wrote, “I have recently been all round
the world and have formed a very poor opinion of it.” Our
guests tonight will likely differ with Mr. Beecham. NITIN SHAH
and MEGAN BRUMAGIM are both students at Harvard and author/editors
for the popular ‘Let’s Go’ Travel Guides: ‘The
Resource for the Independent Traveler’. Each has authored
a number of books in the series, but more importantly, both have
“been all round the world” and can offer the inside
scoop on the best and most affordable destinations for your next
vacation.
THURSDAY
JANUARY 23RD
GLOBALIZATION
AND ITS DISCONTENTS
Is the spread of free market democracy the key to the
expansion of wealth around the world? Or will it only further
widen the gap between the rich and poor nations, leading to instability
and conflict? We'll debate the issue in full tonight with guests
that include Yale Law Professor AMY CHUA, author of 
World
on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred
and Global Instability, and others.
FRIDAY
JANUARY 24TH
THE FRONTIERS OF COSMOLOGY
"Science," Karl Popper once mused, "must begin
with myths, and with the criticism of myths." Much of modern
science, indeed, began as seemingly impossible speculation, only
to far exceed any scientist's wildest imaginations. And perhaps
the area prone to the most far-fetched speculation is that of
the cosmos. What is on the horizon in the world of cosmology?
We will take another full look tonight with TOM SIEGFRIED, the
science editor at The Dallas Morning News and author of 
Strange
Matters: Undiscovered Ideas at the Frontiers of Space and Time,
and more.
MONDAY
JANUARY 27TH
A CRISIS IN EDUCATION?
G.K. Chesterton once observed, "Education is simply the soul
of a society as it passes from one generation to another."
If such is the case, American society has some explaining to do.
What is going on in our public schools? Our students consistently
rank lower than the rest of the world in most general testing,
yet little has been achieved in attempts to alleviate that problem.
Tonight's two guests think they have the answers. Our guests will
include J. MARTIN ROCHESTER, a professor of political science
and the author of 
Class
Warfare: Besieged Schools, Bewildered Parents, Betrayed Kids and
the Attack on Excellence.
TUESDAY
JANUARY 28TH
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Following President Bush's State of the Union message,
we will analyze the speech, where we stand in the war on terrorism,
the crises in Iraq and North Korea, our economic health, and our
national prospects in the months to come. Our coverage begins
immediately following the President's address.
WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 29TH
GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL
JARED DIAMOND’s wildly popular, Pulitzer Prize-winning book
Guns,
Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies has just
sold its 1 millionth copy. His linking of the history of biological
science with the general political course of human history was
unique—and perhaps the key to the book’s runaway success.
It has now been reissued in a new edition, and Diamond visits
tonight to explain his important thesis—and start the sales
moving toward 2 million.
THURSDAY
JANUARY 30TH
THE PURSUIT OF NUTRITION
ROBERT KUSHNER has appeared on this program many times, most recently
to discuss the politics behind food manufacturing and nutrition
regulation. One of the leading experts on nutrition in the Chicago
area and the medical director of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s
Wellness Institute, Dr. Kushner visits tonight to talk about nutrition
on a personal level and what you can do to help yourself. His
new book is 
Dr.
Kushner's Personality Type Diet.
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