November
2005 Shows
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TUESDAY,
NOVEMBER 1ST
INVESTIGATING THE AFTERLIFE
Samuel Butler once wrote that “To himself everyone is immortal;
he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that
he is dead.” And that phenomenon is indeed how some explain
the supposed existence of ghosts—people inhabiting the earth
who simply do not know they are dead. Tonight, we will explore
the various theories of “life after death” exposing
them to a critical eye with MARY ROACH, author of the new book
Spook:
Science Tackles the Afterlife. She traveled the world—from
India to Arizona—looking for answers about what happens
after we die, and she will be telling tales of her travels and
what she discovered about the world beyond.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND
AGING IN AMERICA
By 2015, all of the Americans born during the post-World War II
baby boom will be over the age of fifty. By 2030, projections
suggest that twenty percent of Americans will be over the age
of sixty-five. In 1900, the life expectancy for an average American
was 47; today, it is 76. What medical problems confront the elderly
of today and tomorrow? What ethical dilemmas will their caregivers
and families have to face? And what is the possibility that people
will begin to live even longer lives? These questions and more
will be addressed tonight as we host a panel discussion on the
current state—and future of—geriatrics and gerontology
in America. Our guests include DR. DANIEL BRAUNER, professor of
medicine at the University of Chicago and specialist in geriatrics,
DR. JOSHUA HAUSER of Northwestern University's Buehler Center
on Aging and JAY OLSHANSKY, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics
at the University of Illinois at Chicago who specializes particularly
in geriatrics, aging and longevity.
THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 3RD
THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF MARS
Mars is simply another planet in the solar system, but unlike
Venus or Jupiter, it has captured the imaginations of earthlings
for centuries. Mars is the home planet of countless alien invaders
in science fiction, the destination of the Mariner and Viking
space probes, and the ultimate “terra incognita” for
modern-day explorers. Tonight, we will be examining Mars from
an astronomical and cultural perspective with DOUG ROBERTS, astronomer
at the Adler Planetarium and Northwestern University, and ROBERT
MARKLEY, professor of English at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
whose new book is titled 
Dying
Planet: Mars in Science and the Imagination.
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 4TH
CLASSIC RADIO PLAYS
Once again, Extension 720 welcomes members of the AFTRA/SAG Senior
Radio Players, who will delight us, as before, with their performances
of some classic radio and television scripts, including the ever-popular
western Gunsmoke and scenes from the Life with Luigi
series. Performing tonight will be TONY MOCKUS, BOB BARON, DON
STROUP, JOEL DALY, and MARY BECKER.
MONDAY,
NOVEMBER 7TH
EDUCATION IN AMERICA
The battle over education reform is still raging on the federal,
state and local levels. From the dismal facts about low achievement
scores and the controversy over school choice to the ever-present
influence of the teachers’ unions, education in America
is still one of the most troubling issues in contemporary public
policy. Tonight, we host a discussion of the current state of
American public education and the possibility of school reform
with HERB WALBERG, research professor of education and psychology
at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and JAY GREENE, senior
fellow at the Manhattan Institute’s Education Research Office
and author of the new book 
Education
Myths: What Special Interest Groups Want You to Believe About
Our Schools--and Why It Isn't So.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH
A VETERAN JOURNALIST REMEMBERS
Legendary journalist JULES WITCOVER has covered American politics
for over half a century, from his days as one of the original
“boys on the bus” in the 1972 presidential campaign
to riding along on John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express”
in 2000. Tonight, he will be joining the program to give guest
host STEVE BERTRAND his take on the last fifty years in American
politics and his life as a journalist, as described in his new
book 
The
Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the Political
Beat.
WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 9TH
THE RISE OF BLACK POPULAR MUSIC
In the 1950s and early 1960s, artists like Little Richard, Chuck
Berry, Fats Domino, and Sam Cooke, along with the founding of
the Motown label in Detroit, helped bring black music to the white,
mainstream audience. Tonight, we will be talking about these rock
‘n’ roll pioneers with a panel of music experts (moderated
by tonight’s guest host JOHN WILLIAMS) who will be on hand
to discuss the growing popularity of black artists in these two
decades and listen to some of their great songs. Our guests will
be DAVE HOEKSTRA of the Chicago Sun-Times and PETER GURALNICK,
author of the new book 
Dream
Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke.
THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 10TH
THE GEORGE RYAN CORRUPTION TRIAL
The trial of former Illinois governor is reaching the halfway
point, and tonight we will gather a panel of experts to discuss
the ongoing trial and its latest developments. Sitting in for
Milt and hosting tonight’s panel will be WGN News anchor
ANDREA DARLAS, who has been covering the trial for this station,
and she will be joined by TERRY SULLIVAN, legal analyst for WGN-TV,
ROB OLMSTEAD, Chicago reporter for the Daily Herald,
and JIM WAGNER of CLTV.
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 11TH
JFK AND THE MOB
Of the making of conspiracy theories there is no end—especially
when those conspiracy theories revolve around the assassination
of John F. Kennedy. The death of the thirty-fifth president of
the United States is still shrouded in mystery, and certainly
JFK’s ties with the Mafia have helped perpetuate the lingering
questions about his death. Tonight, we will revisit the Kennedy
assassination and its possible connection with the death of famed
mobster Sam Giancana. Our guests will be ANTOINETTE GIANCANA and
neurophysiologist JOHN HUGHES, two of the co-authors of the new
book 
JFK
And Sam: The Connection Between the Giancana and Kennedy Assassinations.
MONDAY,
NOVEMBER 14TH
GREAT MODERN SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES
The twentieth century will be remembered for many things, but
perhaps most for the vast number of great scientific breakthroughs
that changed our world forever. From the theory of relativity
and the decoding of DNA, to the discovery of penicillin and the
creation of quantum physics, these great findings—and the
people who made them—altered the course of human history
and the unfolding future. Tonight, noted author, essayist and
physicist ALAN LIGHTMAN returns to the program to discuss these
great scientific achievements of the past century and the fascinating
stories behind them, as outlined in his new book 
The
Discoveries: The Great Breakthroughs in 20th-Century Science.
TUESDAY,
NOVEMBER 15TH
WHO WROTE THE NEW TESTAMENT?
Edwin Lewis once quipped that "a religion without
the element of mystery would not be a religion at all." And
certainly one of the greatest mysteries of the New Testament is
who was the historical Jesus and who were the scribes who committed
his life to scripture. We will be exploring this question tonight
with noted New Testament scholars MARGARET MITCHELL, professor
of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University
of Chicago's Divinity School, and BART D. EHRMAN, chair of religious
studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
author of the new book 
Misquoting
Jesus: The Story behind Who Changed the Bible and Why.
WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 16TH
THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE
"Language is by its very nature a communal thing;
that is, it expresses never the exact thing but a compromise -
that which is common to you, me, and everybody," or so wrote
Thomas Earnest Hulme. Languages are an imperfect form of communication--but
how did they come about? And how did they evolve to resemble the
languages that we have today? Tonight, we will be exploring and
analyzing the origins of language with two expert linguists: JASON
MERCHANT, professor of linguistics at the University of Chicago,
and FREDERICK SCHWINK, professor of Germanic languages and literatures
at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 17TH
OBESITY IN AMERICA: FACT OR FICTION?
According to the World Health Organization, there are
more than one billion overweight adults in the world, and at least
300 million of those are obese. Even more disturbing is obesity
in children--it is estimated the twenty two million children under
the age of five are overweight worldwide. Physicians and governments
have declared that we are in the middle of an obesity epidemic.
But is this indeed the case? Or have millions of people been wrongly
classified as overweight by doctors, government officials and
researchers who are in collusion with a growing weight-loss industry.
Tonight, we will be discussing the realities and the politics
of the obesity epidemic with DR. ROBERT KUSHNER, head of the Wellness
Center at Northwestern University, and ERIC OLIVER, professor
of political science at the University of Chicago and author of
the new book 
Fat
Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic.
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 18TH
THE ECONOMICS OF HOLLYWOOD
Walter Winchell once noted that “Hollywood is a place where
they place you under contract instead of under observation.”
And for the first few decades of its existence, the American film
industry relied on stars under contract and the studio system
to maintain its economic hold over actors and directors. The studio
system has since been dismantled, and the Hollywood of today is
ruled by box office profits and driven by blockbuster movies.
Tonight, we will be discussing the economic realities of Hollywood
and how those realities dictate the types of movies that are produced.
Our guests tonight are film expert VIRGINIA WEXMAN, professor
of English at the University of Illinois Chicago, and DAVID WATERMAN,
professor of telecommunications at Indiana University and author
of the new book 
Hollywood's
Road to Riches.
MONDAY,
NOVEMBER 21ST
A LEFT-HANDED LIFE IN A RIGHT-HANDED WORLD
A popular saying amongst the left-handed is that “everyone
is born right-handed, but only the greatest overcome it.”
And some of these greats include Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein,
Helen Keller, Edward R. Murrow, Paul McCartney and many U.S. presidents,
including Ford, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton. After tonight’s
7:00 p.m. Northwestern basketball game, we will be exploring the
science, psychology and culture of left-handedness with DAVID
WOLMAN, author of the new book 
A
Left-Hand Turn Around the World: Chasing the Mystery and Meaning
of All things Southpaw, and WGN's own left-handed weekend
host GARRY LEE WRIGHT.
TUESDAY,
NOVEMBER 22ND
IMMIGRANT CHICAGO
Chicago has long been known as a city of immigrants with strong
national identities—the Irish, Polish and Italian communities
in Chicago all have a long and storied history. However, the city’s
cultural expansion continues to this day, as people come to the
city from Mexico, Central America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia
and beyond. Tonight, we will be discussing the life of an immigrant
in today’s Chicago with JEFF LIBMAN, author of the new book
An
Immigrant Class: Oral Histories from Chicago's Newest Immigrants
and three of the people featured in that book: ELI RAMIREZ from
Guatemala, ELENA RASKIN from Belarus, and PILAR LANDA from Cuba.
WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 23RD
THE CIVIL WAR
Walt Whitman once wrote of the American Civil War that
""Future years will never know the seething hell and
the black infernal background, the countless minor scenes and
interiors of the secession war; and it is best they should not.
The real war will never get in the books." Though we may
not be able to experience the brutal horror of the most bloody
of all American Wars, we can still attempt to understand how it
happened. Tonight, Extension 720 welcomes a panel of historians
to hold a basic primer on the Civil War—how it began, how
it was fought, and how it finally came to an end. They will also
be examining some of the great historical figures, such as Abraham
Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and Jefferson Davis,
that make this tragic era in American history so fascinating.
Our guests will be MICHAEL PERMAN, professor of history at the
University of Illinois Chicago, and ROBERT GIRARDI, a Civil War
military expert.
THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 24TH
THANKSGIVING TAPES
As Extension 720 takes the evening off, cleanse your palate with
these two recently recorded interviews. During the first hour,
LESLIE SAVAN discusses her new book 
Slam
Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, Media, Business,
Politics, and, Like, Whatever and then in the second
hour, New Yorker writer MARK SINGER returns to the program
to discuss his new collection 
Character
Studies: Encounters with the Curiously Obsessed, which
includes profiles of Donald Trump, Ricky Jay and Martin Scorsese.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH
THE STRAIGHT DOPE
Since 1973, Cecil Adams has been fighting ignorance one
question at a time, in his famous Chicago Reader column
"The Straight Dope." Tonight, we welcome ED ZOTTI—editor,
confidant and personal trainer to Cecil Adams—who will be
discussing his colleague's vast knowledge and reading from some
of his best columns.
MONDAY,
NOVEMBER 28TH
JEWISH-MUSLIM RELATIONS
The relationship between Jews and Muslims has a long
and complicated history, made even more so by the creation of
the state of Israel and many Islamic nations hostile response
to it. Tonight, we will be examining the current state of Jewish/Muslim
relations and discussing how the connection between these two
Abrahamic religions can be strengthened with two excellent panelists:
DR. AKBAR AHMED, professor of Islamic Studies and International
Relations at American University and former High Commissioner
of Pakistan to Great Britain, and EMILY SOLOFF, director of the
Chicago chapter of the American Jewish Committee.
TUESDAY,
NOVEMBER 29TH
COMPOSERS
Igor Stravinsky once said that "a good composer
does not imitate; he steals." But what inspires a composer
to create? And how do they translate the music in their head to
the music on the page? Tonight, we welcome three very active composers
from here in Chicago to discuss their craft--and play some of
their compositions committed to recording--as we strive to understand
the art of composition. Our guests will be LITA GRIER, EASLEY
BLACKWOOD, and DAN TUCKER.
WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 30TH
THE LEGACY OF DARWIN
Charles Darwin once wrote: “As natural selection works solely
by and for the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments
will tend to progress towards perfection.” As the debate
rages today over the legitimacy of intelligent design, perhaps
there is no better time to examine the work and legacy of Charles
Darwin, the man who first posited the theory of natural selection
and created evolutionary biology. Our guest tonight (after the
7:00 p.m. Northwestern basketball game) is legendary entomologist
and sociobiologist E.O. WILSON, who is considered by many to be
“Darwin's natural heir.” Wilson will be discussing
Darwin’s legacy, drawing from 
From
So Simple a Beginning: The Four Great Books of Charles Darwin,
a new collection of Darwin’s works edited and introduced
by Wilson. He will be joined by ROBERT RICHARDS, professor of
the History of Science at the University of Chicago.
Archive
of previous show topics:
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1999
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2002
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2003
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2004
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2005
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