In May, FATHER GREGORY BOYLE, founder of HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES in Los Angeles — the largest gang intervention and re-entry program in the world — was honored by President Biden with the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Homeboy said that Boyle “…exemplifies the transformative power of compassion, forgiveness, and second chances. For nearly forty years, Father Greg has empowered hundreds of thousands of individuals to break free from the cycles of poverty, violence, and incarceration.” Here’s our 2010 conversation where we talk about his work and his first book, TATTOOS ON THE HEART. We were joined by Luis Perez, one of the senior staff at Homeboy. Learn more: homeboyindustries.org

With an eye on the election, I speak with RICHARD CIZIK, founder of Evangelicals for Democracy, which aims to build a community of evangelicals across the political spectrum who champion democracy as an act of Christian faith. Earlier he spent nearly three decades deep inside the Religious Right. In 2008, after 28 years at the National Association of Evangelicals, Rev. Cizik was forced to resign as VP for Governmental Affairs, for publicly supporting civil unions and for advocacy on climate change. Learn more: EvangelicalsforDemocracy.org

In response to the wonderful positive reaction to last week’s episode with DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN on her new best-seller An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, here’s our 2013 conversation re her book, THE BULLY PULPIT: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, a history of the first decade of the Progressive era when courageous journalists and an ambitious president took on the Robber Barons – the 1% of their day – and won. You can learn more at doriskearnsgoodwin.com 

In this recording of a recent LiveTalksLA event, I speak with historian and best-selling author, DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, about her latest book, AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY: A Personal History of the 1960s, which combines personal memoir with presidential history. Her late husband of 42 years, Dick Goodwin, worked closely with JFK and LBJ in the White House, and with Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy on their presidential campaigns. She and Goodwin went through hundreds of boxes of letters, diaries, and documents he’d saved for over 50 years, a record of politics and power in the 1960s. Doris hopes her book reminds us of the enormous progress achieved in those years as well as opportunities lost, and sheds light on our own challenging time offering lessons we might carry forward. Learn more at doriskearnsgoodwin.com 

 

FF_Goodwin, DK – LiveTalksLA – Full Transcript