Conversations with History Blog

First Conversations with History Book

The New Press is publishing a collection of Conversations with History interviews entitled "Political Awakenings."

 
 
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL:

Stories of insight and inspiration from twenty leaders and thinkers who have changed the world—including  Tariq Ali,  Noam Chomsky, Ron Dellums,  Oronto Douglas, Shirin Ebadi,  Daniel Ellsberg, Roya Hakakian, Eva Harris. Amira Hass, Chalmers Johnson, Jane Mayer,  Kenzaburo Oe, Michael Pollan, Ahmed Rashid, Albie Sachs, Phillipe Sands, Joan Wallach Scott, Oliver Stone,  Elizabeth Warren, Howard Zinn.

“All these interviewees stand out because they came to see their world in a radically different way with important implications for The World.  They embraced ideas and actions that implied a different way of perceiving politics.  Politics means in this context more than party affiliation; it
refers to an understanding of power relations.  They applied these insights in a variety of arenas, whether world affairs, the role of women in society, the impact on the environment of human behavior.  In their own lives, the insights of these guests didn’t just happen but were the consequences of life experiences that helped clarify the way things held together—moments of political awakening. Invariably, because of the interface between past and present, because of the limits and opportunities of their profession, or because of the interaction of different worlds, my guests were positioned to imagine alternatives to the conventional wisdom.  A new way of seeing emerged in their thinking, in their writing, in their activism; with courage, perseverance, and determination, they took their ideas to a broader audience.  In so doing, their world and the Politics of their World were changed forever.”

Order Now from The New Press

 

U.S. Foreign Policy and the Iranian Challenge

Two recent guests on Conversations with History analyzed U.S. relations with Iran in light of Iran's presidential elections and the democracy movement that emerged in its wake.  The first interview is with former CIA operative Robert Baer and the other with Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  Baer draws on his 25 year career in the CIA to conclude that Iran has used terrorism and the failure of the U.S. in the Iraq War to consolidate its power in the region and assume the role of regional hegemon that the U.S. must deal with.  Sadjadpour draws on his mastery of the internal politics of Iran to argue that the U.S must approach the regime with utmost caution neither undermining nor openly supporting the democracy movement.  Here are the two inteviews:

 

 

 

 

 

Conversations with History Update

The home page for Conversations with History has a new look. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/ Because the interviews are available on several platforms, the new site provides easier access.  Conversations with History is broadcast nationally on the Echo Star Dish Network via UCTV's channel, number 9412.  http://www.uctv.tv/cwh/ More than 225 of the 360 interviews are available at our video library at UCTV.  http://www.uctv.tv/library2.asp?Date=&summary=show&title=&keyword=conversations%20with%20history&showID=  Now Google video is also housing the video of our interviews.  http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Conversations+with+History We are also beginning to podcast.  http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Conversations+with+History At the globetrotter website at Berkeley you will also find transcripts of most interviews with photographs of the guest. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/ You can also go directly from a particular transcript to the video.  The transcript is proceeded by an outline of the interview.  On the home page there is also an alphabet list of all interviews by guest's last name http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/alpha.html and by the year the interview was taped.  http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/chron.html Finally, the interviews are grouped by topic. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/PubEd/research/ There are 35 topics.  They are

African Voices   Asian Voices   China and the World   The Cold War   The Conservative Movement   Diplomacy   The Environment: Politics, Policy, and the Global Agenda   Europe Today: Change and Unification Foreign Policy   Globalization, International Institutions, and the International Economy   Higher Education: Choices, Goals, and Leadership   Human Rights  Images and Perception: Human Values and Visual Interpretation   The Information Age   International Law   International Relations: Theory and Practice   Journalists and Their Work   Military Perspectives on National Security   Moderation and Militancy in Islam   Movies and the Imagination   Nobel Laureates   The Peace Movement and the Nuclear Arms Race   Peacekeeping, Humanitarian Intervention, and Nation Building   Politics, Legislation, and the Work of Democracy   Radical Insight and Political Activism   Science   The Search for Peace in the Middle East   Surviving Political Imprisonment   Terrorism   UC Berkeley Researchers UC Berkeley Alumni  Women Role Models for the New Millenium   The Changing United Nations   Recalling the Vietnam War   Writers

Shirin Ebadi and the Struggle for Human Rights in Iran

At the Conversations with History site, a recent interview with Shirin Ebadi has just been posted.  The Nobel Laureate offers a moving account of her courageous life's work in behalf of women's and children's rights.  The transcript and video on demand  of the interview are here http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people6/Ebadi/ebadi-con0.html Here http://www.uctv.tv/cwh/ is information about its national broadcast on the EchostarDish network during the week of July 16th. Her new book, Iran Awakening,  is a compelling, multi layered account that tells the story of her family, her country and the role of law in the conflict between tradition and modernity.  The book vividly chronicles how U.S. intervention in the last fifty years has affected all three dimensions.This is a story not only of the rise of religious fundamentalism in her native land but also a story of the unintended consequences of U.S. intervention in Iranian affairs in the last fifty years--the overthrow of Mossadegh, the support of the Shah, the aid to Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. Through Ebadi's narrative we learn how the United States is both a beacon of hope for the human rights struggle and a superpower whose intervention over the years has had the unintended consequences of setting back these efforts.  Ebadi is an extraordinary human rights lawyer but also an Iranian patriot.  Her book should be read for important insights into the contradictory role the United States plays in that troubled region.

Ambassador Joseph Wilson and the Clash of World Views

The Bush Administration's foreign policy is unraveling, and its primary architect, Vice President Cheney may soon be a defendant in a civil suit brought by former CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson, IV.  In the conflict between two former public servants--Plame and Wilson--and officials of the Bush administration--Cheney, Rove, and Libby-- it is worth recalling that Ambassador Joseph Wilson, in going public on the abuse of intelligence by the Bush administration, represented a different world view of how U.S. foreign policy should be conducted.  The Conversations with History interview with Ambassador Wilson, taped May 27, 2005, explores his career in the foreign service and how that career shaped his perspective on the use of intelligence, multilateral versus unilateral responses to global probems, and the role of secrecy in subverting policy debates.  http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people4/Wilson/wilson-con0.html

The Emperor Has No Clothes

Ian Lustick, Bess M. Heyman Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, has just published a new book Trapped in the War on Terror (University of Pennsylvania Press).  Lustick was a recent guest on Conversations with History. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people6/Lustick/lustick06-con0.html The book is a powerful attack on the logic of U.S. strategy and a compelling account of its consequences for domestic politics. In comparing the War on Terror with the Containment Doctrine of the Cold War, Lustick, drawing on his expertise in Middle East politics. demonstrates that, unlike Kennan's doctrine, Bush's War on Terror lacks a subtle understanding of the nature of our new adversary, the Islamic jihadists. He goes on to explicate how this flawed strategy has corrupted domestic politics.  His insights reminded me of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale, "The Emperor Has No Clothes." Read the interview and then go buy the book. 

Action on Global Warming

Two recent interviews help us understand that some governments are serious about addressing the problem of global warming.   Both Sweden and Great Britain are proving to be innovative in this regard.  The first interview is with Sir David King,   Prime Minister Tony Blair's Science Advisor. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people5/King/king-con0.html  The second interview http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people6/Liljelund/liljelund-con0.html is with Lars-Erik Liljelund,  Director of Sweden's Environmental Protection Agency. Both interviews provide fascinating accounts of the meshing of science and politics to create a public consensus on moving forward while experimenting with medium term national policies.

Passing of a Liberal Giant

John Kenneth Gailbraith died this weekend.   The Harvard professor was a distinguished economist and one of the most important and articulate voices for the liberal agenda.  He appeared on the Conversations with History program on March 27, 1986.  Here is the link http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Galbraith/

Debating the influence of the Israeli Lobby

Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard University have launched a national debate on the impact of Israel and its supporters on United States foreign policy.  In the community of international relations theorists, both are realists with distinguished publishing records.  Before the start of the Iraq War, they  opposed the Bush administration's plan to depose the Iraqi dictator arguing that the containment strategy of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton had kept Saddam Hussein in a box where he was not an imminent threat to U.S. national security.  They took their case to the Council on Foreign Relations where they debated leading neocons Max Boot and William Kristol. Both scholars have been guests on Conversations with History.  Their interviews provide background to an understanding of their scholarship on international politics. Mearsheimer's interview is here http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Mearsheimer/mearsheimer-con0.html and Walt's interview is here http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people5/Walt/walt-con0.html

The U.S. and Europe

The Conversations with History archive has justed posted a new interview with Lord Patten of Barnes, the Chancellor of Oxford University and the former European Union Commissioner for External Affairs. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Patten/patten06-con0.html  On a recent visit to the Bay Area, Lord Patten (Chris Patten) made a special trip to the Berkeley campus to make his third appearance on the Conversations with History program.  In the interview, he talks about his work as EU Commissioner, reflects on the ideas guiding the European Union, on the implications of enlargement and on Europe's relations with the Muslim World.  He offers his observations on the implications of America's unilateralism for world peace and stability. The interview concludes with his reflections on leadership, foreign policy, and the lessons of the Peloponnesian War. Patten's previous appearances on Conversations can be found at http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Patten/index.html