We are extraordinarily fortunate to converse today with psychiatrist and psychohistorical researcher Robert Jay Lifton. His new memoir, written after 60 years of professional life, is an amazingly fascinating and entertaining book. Dr. Lifton speaks in his persona of a gifted, intelligent, and rational observer and thinker, a self-described disciple of the Enlightenment and a humanist approach to understanding.

William Kunstler, Disturbing the Universe recounts the historic explores the live and career of one of the most controversial lawyers whose believed in justice for. Directed by his daughter Emily and Sarah the film explores not only his civil rights work and his private clients, but also how his family coped with his work

Justice is not a popularity contest

The Freedom Riders, Chicago 8/7, Wounded Knee, Martin Luther King, Jr. , negotiating at Attica made sense for a civil rights lawyer.

Popular culture’s vision of Christmas generally misses the challenging nature of the story of Christmas. It’s much nicer and safer to simple sing platitudes of peace on earth before turning to the celebration of acquiring more and more stuff and seeking a higher spot on the pyramid of power. But from time to time, there are glimpses of Christmas that challenge the passions in our society to make distinctions between people, to judge one’s worth by the size of one’s pile of stuff, and to raise up the rich at the expense of the poor.

In 1999, Aaron Sorkin and Rick Cleveland got it right on The West Wing, in the episode “In Excelsis Deo.” The music, the direction, and the editing brilliantly captured what I believe lies at the heart of the Christmas story. Whether we share a common understanding of this story or not, I pray that we can share a vision of a mutual partnership that raises up the lowly, that feeds the hungry, that embraces the stranger, that welcomes the outcast, and that works for peace.

Hubert Humphrey lost in 1968 to the monster Richard Nixon. Should anti-war activists have worked hard for his election?

As we enter the Memorial Day weekend, it is especially sad that the United States is suffering its 1000th death in Afghanistan at the same time that Afghanistan is becoming the longest war in American history.

The killings at Kent State and Jackson State left scars I feel 40 years later.

[Welcome authors, Campbell Craig and Fred Logevall, Hosted by Jeremi Suri] [As a courtesy to our guests, please keep comments to the book.  Please take other conversations to a previous thread.   - bev] Craig and Logevall, America’s Cold War America’s Cold War is a powerful and provocative book written by two very talented historians. Campbell [...]

Tonight on GRITtv we take a look at healthcare in Canada, Germany and Taiwan, preview the new film War Inc, and check out a documentary-in-progress about “The Most Dangerous Man In America.”

Dr. Henry Kissinger called Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, “The Most Dangerous Man In America” and a traitor. When Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith came up with the idea of a film on Ellsberg, the repeated response was “why hasn’t it been done before?”