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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Cambridge Forum

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Cambridge Forum hosts free, public discussions that inform and engage, so that people can better explore the varied issues and ideas that shape our changing world. CF broadcasts its live events via podcasts, weekly NPR shows and online presentations via GBH Forum Network on YouTube.

http://www.cambridgeforum.org

  • George McCully, creator of the *Catalogue for Philanthropy* and the new *Massachusetts Philanthropic Directory*, discusses the contemporary transformation of philanthropy. Rooted in the Classical tradition of “humane-ness,” philanthropy provided the explicit rationale for the founding of the United States. How is the practice of philanthropy changing today? What role have electronic technologies and the new demographics of wealth played in the philanthropic revolution?
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Historian Vincent Cannato discusses the history of Ellis Island with political scientist Paul Watanabe. Watanabe's research focuses on contemporary immigration trends as a counterpoint to Cannato's historical research. How has the immigrant experience changed since Ellis Island was the key entry point to the United States?
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Author and political satirist Al Franken kicks off Cambridge Forum's 37th year of public programs with a talk on "Democracy in the Age of Dubya." Drawing from his book, *Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right* (Dutton, October 2003), Franken employs his trademark wit and insight in a discussion of the state of American democracy under the administration of George W. Bush. He debunks the myth of a liberal bias in the media and takes aim at the conservative organizations and individuals who perpetuate it. Does political satire address topics that traditional media does not? What role do entertainers and satirists play in the political process?
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Lauren Slater and Jessica Henderson Daniel discuss an expansive book, The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women. From anxiety to eating disorders to postpartum depression, over 50 experts navigate the milestones and issues affecting women's mental health and the medical assistance that is available. The vast majority of books on mental illness focus on men. This book is the first comprehensive volume that seeks to depict women's lives through their illnesses and their life stages, taking into account both race and class. Over 50 medical experts contribute to chapters on anxiety, depressive and bipolar disorders, body image and eating disorders, as well as disorders associated with specific stages in women's lives: marriage, motherhood, postpartum depression and menopause and the effects of aging on mood, memory and hormones.
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Catherine Orenstein discusses her new book. *Little Red Hiding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality and the Evolution of a Fairytale,*. In her book, Orenstein follows the evolution of the fairy tale through time to trace our thinking about men and women, sex and morality. Why does the story of the little girl lost in the woods remain such a compelling modern myth?
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Richard Rodriguez accepts the 2003 Frederic G. Melcher Book Award and reads from Brown. Brown completes a trilogy on American public life by Rodriguez that began with the award-winning Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez and Days of Obligation: An Argument With My Mexican Father. In Brown, he explores issues of race, arguing that America has been brown since its inception, as he himself is. Brown, in his view, is not a color, but a mixture, evidence of the blending of cultures which began the moment the African and European met within the Indian eye. The son of Mexican immigrants, he reflects on what it means to be Hispanic in America and how Latino immigrants have impacted American culture, changing it from a society that has traditionally seen itself as simply black and white. The Frederic G. Melcher Book Award is presented annually by the Unitarian Universalist Association to a work published in the United States during the past calendar year judged to be the most significant contribution to religious liberalism. Previous Melcher Book award recipients include David Halberstam for The Children, Wei Jingsheng for The Courage to Stand Alone, and James Carroll for *Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews*.
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Prize-winning biographer Laurence Bergreen discusses his new book, *Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe.* The historical ramifications of Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe are difficult to exaggerate. He set out to accomplish what Columbus never could--reach the East by sailing west. His fleet of five ships traveled over 41,000 miles and was at sea for over a thousand days. During that time they experienced monstrous storms, mutiny, torture, and disease. Magellan himself died halfway through the journey in the tribal Philippines under circumstances possibly orchestrated by his own officers. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and archival materials, Bergreen details the amazing drama of the most famous sea voyage in history.
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Louis Crompton, professor emeritus of English at the University of Nebraska, discusses the rich and terrible history of homosexuality across time and cultures, as described in his recent book, *Homosexuality and Civilization*. Crompton provides a wide-ranging comparative exploration of the place of homosexuality in Western and non-Western cultures, beginning in ancient Greece and expanding through China, Japan, the Islamic world and even Mesoamerica. Why did some cultures tolerate same-sex love while others repressed and persecuted homosexuality? What lessons can contemporary activists for gay, lesbian and bisexual rights draw from history? Is the controversy that surrounds the current debate about same-sex marriage the inevitable product of our cultural heritage?
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    Cambridge Forum
  • Senator Byrd, in discussion with Edward Kennedy and Wesley Clark, offers his perspective on some of the most critical issues facing Americans today. From the White House wall of secrecy to the campaign to authorize the use of force in Iraq to the massive expansion of military budgets and the secretary of defense's authority. Calling on Congress to reaffirm the checks and balances established in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers; on the media to reassume the responsibilities of the Fourth Estate; and on the American people to become engaged in the political process and let their voices be heard. Byrd lives up to Abraham Lincoln's challenge to "the better angels of our nature" and vividly demonstrates why his colleagues call him "the conscience of the Senate." As the third-longest serving member of Congress in America's history, Senator Robert C. Byrd has an unparalleled knowledge of the inner-workings of the United States government. In Losing America: Confronting A Reckless and Arrogant Presidency, Byrd uses his lifetime of experience to sound a stunning wake-up call to the American people, the media, and his fellow legislators to halt the erosion of constitutional principles that he sees at work in the government today. **Robert C. Byrd** served as third-in-line to the presidency of the United States for many years. Among his legislative responsibilities, he is the top democratic member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the top democratic member of that panel's Homeland Security Subcommittee, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and co-chairman of the Senate National Security Working Group. Byrd's books include the four-volume history of the Senate entitled, The Senate: 1789-1989, the first volume of which won the Henry Adams Prize of the Society for History in the Federal Government as "an outstanding contribution to research in the history of the Federal Government."
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    Cambridge Forum
  • James Gustave Speth, armed with the latest data about the global environmental crisis, explains why current methods of tackling the problem (international negotiations and treaties) have failed, and exposes the disaster waiting to happen if we stay the current course. Lecturing on the topics of his book Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment, Speth explains how governments have created the illusion of progress, and illustrates his own ambitious plans for effecting true and meaningful change. Speth founded and was president of the World Resources Institute, and served as adviser on environmental issues for presidents Carter and Clinton. He is currently dean and professor in the practice of environmental policy and sustainable development at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University.
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    Cambridge Forum