When I talk about the relentless push of Big Business, the Right, and the GOP toward our current crisis of inequality, injustice, minority rule, and an inability to solve problems, I usually start around 1970. Today’s guests go back to the early 20th century. I talk with NAOMI ORESKES and ERIK CONWAY, authors together of the best-selling and Important MERCHANTS OF DOUBT: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, about their new book, THE BIG MYTH: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market. Learn more at thebigmythbook.com

I believe human beings want more than anything to feel seen and heard. Last week the US Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic, as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, raising the risk of premature death by 30%, with higher rates of heart disease, stroke, anxiety, depression, dementia, and suicide. Here’s my 2021 conversation with NOREENA HERTZ about her book, THE LONELY CENTURY: How to Restore Human Connection in a World That’s Pulling Apart. You can learn more at noreena.com

I talk with three-time Pulitzer Prize winning NY Times investigative reporter WALT BOGDANICH about his book, WHEN McKINSEY COMES TO TOWN. The company brands itself one of the good guys, but Bogdanich and co-author MIchael Forsythe point out that, shielded by NDAs, McKinsey has so far escaped scrutiny for advising tobacco companies, opioid manufacturers including Purdue, oil companies, and repressive governments. We pull back the curtain on its role in pursuit of the bottom line above all that has made this country less equal, less just, less healthy, less safe, and less democratic.  

SHEILA KUEHL has long been one of my favorite elected officials. A true public servant, she served 8 years in CA’s State Senate, 6 in the State Assembly, and 8 more on LA County’s Board of Supervisors. Kuehl was the first openly gay or lesbian person elected to the Legislature, first woman named Speaker pro Tem of the Assembly, and authored 171 bills signed into law. One of my go-to sages re state and local politics, now retired, we look back together at how she was so successful – not just at overcoming prejudice but also at achieving real world results. Is it possible to still succeed in today’s political climate?

April is Earth Month. My environmental goals: a healthy relationship with the rest of nature and an effective reckoning with climate change. Here’s my 2020 conversation with SAM MYERS, Harvard research scientist, Founding Director of the Planetary Health Alliance, and one of the editors of PLANETARY HEALTH: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves. The book offers solutions to the challenging  impacts of environmental change on human health by reimagining cities, food, energy systems, economics, and ethics. Learn more at planetaryhealthalliance.org.