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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.

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Emily Dickinson: My Wars Are Laid Away in Books

Wed, Oct 9, 2002

One of America's greatest poets, Emily Dickinson remains largely an enigma. Alfred Habegger, author of The Father: A Life of Henry James, Sr., sheds new light on Dickinson in his biography, My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson. In his new book, Habegger probes provocative questions: Was she a lesbian? Why did she refuse to publish her poetry, and why was this refusal so integral to her work? Using legal archives, congregational records and previously unpublished fragments of Dickinson's own letters, Habegger provides a rare personal glimpse into Dickinson's troubled brilliance and shows how Dickinson tuned her "voice" and turned her personal life into a work of art.

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Lani Guinier: Race, Gender and Power

Wed, Sep 25, 2002

Civil rights expert Lani Guinier discusses the current distribution of power in the United States. Like the canaries that alerted miners to a poisonous atmosphere, issues of race point to underlying problems in society that ultimately affect everyone, not just minorities. Addressing these issues is essential. Ignoring racial differences, race blindness, has failed. Focusing on individual achievement has diverted us from tackling pervasive inequalities. Guinier proposes a radical new way to confront race in the 21st-Century. How far have we come in achieving equality among all of our nation's citizens? **Lani Gunier** is the author of The Miner's Canary and Lift Every Voice, and the first African American woman to become tenured professor at Harvard Law School.

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Whither Psychoanalysis in Digital Culture?

Wed, Dec 18, 2002

Sherry Turkle, founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, discusses how novel and evocative computational objects, including virtual communities, robotic companions, and screen avatars, demand a depth psychology of our relationships with them, leading to a renewed relevance of a psychoanalytic discourse in digital culture. She argues that this relevance is so profound as to suggest an occasion for a revitalization and renewal of psychoanalytic thinking.

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Helen Caldicott: New Nuclear Danger

Wed, Nov 13, 2002

Helen Caldicott looks at the indebtedness of the Bush Administration to the arms industry and warns of the incredible dangers inherent in allowing weapons manufacturers to dictate foreign policy, as described in her book, *The New Nuclear Danger*. Recounting the history of government collusion with industry, Caldicott shows how the merging of weapons firms in the 1980's created hugely powerful "death merchants", including Lockheed and others, ready to lobby politicians and manipulate public opinion on behalf of their corporate interests.

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Why Terrorism Works

Wed, Dec 4, 2002

Renowned criminal defense and civil rights attorney Alan M. Dershowitz shares insights from his new book, *Why Terrorism Works*, on understanding and responding to terrorism. The youngest tenured Harvard Law School professor in history and best-selling author of *Supreme Injustice*, *Chutzpah*, and *Reversal of Fortune*, among others, Dershowitz outlines a frank and controversial agenda to combat terror on American soil and around the world. How did America become so vulnerable? What can we do to stop terror without compromising civil liberties?

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Fixing Elections: America's Winner-Take-All Politics

Wed, Feb 5, 2003

Political analyst Steven Hill discusses his book, *Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner-Take-All Politics* (Routledge, 2002). An exhaustive study completed in 2000 found that the last four decades of the 20th century have seen the lowest levels of voter turnout in our nation's history. Among the explanations for this were the public's distaste for modern campaign techniques, our front-loaded system of nominating candidates, and the Electoral College that renders non-swing states irrelevant in deciding elections. Has voter apathy grown too great? Is our current voting system broken beyond repair? What can be done to restore America's faith in participatory democracy? Hill believes that the root of our political failures is our winner-take-all electoral system. In his new book, he shows why the Electoral College is an antiquated system in desperate need of overhaul, and proposes reasonable, proven solutions for change based on European political models. **Steven Hill** is Senior Analyst for the Center for Voting and Democracy in Washington, DC. His analyses and commentaries have been published in dozens of magazines and journals, including *The Los Angeles Times*, *The Wall Street Journal*, and *The Nation*. Previously, he co-authored *Reflecting All of Us*.

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Christopher Hedges: War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

Wed, Jan 22, 2003

Christopher Hedges discusses how human beings are conditioned to embrace what he calls "the myth of war"; the idea that combat is noble, selfless, and glorious. In his new book War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, which draws on the literature of combat, from Homer and Shakespeare to Erich Maria Remarque and Michael Herr, as well as his firsthand experience, Hedges reveals the reality of war; the destruction of culture, the perversion of human desire, and the embrace, ultimately, of death over life.

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Jennifer Jordan: Women of K2

Wed, Jan 29, 2003

Award-winning journalist and filmmaker Jennifer Jordan shares stories from her research expeditions on *The Women of K2*. In 2000, Jordan joined an American expedition of women climbers attempting to summit K2 on the Pakistan-China border. At 28,250 feet, K2 is the second highest mountain in the world, and is widely regarded as the ultimate climb. Its giant pyramid peak towers in isolation, its sheer icy summit flanked by six equally steep ridges, each presenting climbers with a maze of precipices and treacherous overhangs. By the turn of the millennium, only 164 climbers, including just 12 Americans, had reached its summit. Of those, only a handful were women. Jordan discusses her forthcoming film and book about the women who pioneered, pursued, and perished on this most challenging mountain.

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Just and Lasting Change: Sustainable Communities

Wed, Feb 26, 2003

Daniel Taylor-Ide, president of Future Generations, discusses his new book *Just and Lasting Change*, on proven models for fostering healthy, sustainable communities in impoverished areas worldwide, by creating partnerships among community members, governments, and outside experts. He claims his approach to community-based development, integrated with environmental conservation, really works.

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Essentials for a Decent Working Society

Wed, Mar 5, 2003

Brandeis University professor and Clinton labor secretary, Robert Reich, examines the American social contract in light of corporate frauds, mass layoffs, impending war in Iraq, and fiscal policies that favor the rich and punish the poor. Reich argues that our astonishing economic growth after World War II grew out of a social contract: (a) anyone who wants a job should have one; (b) those who work should earn enough to lift themselves and their families out of poverty; and (c) all Americans should have access to an education. He maintains that this social contract has collapsed over decades of social Darwinism and must be restored. In his book, *Essentials or a Decent Working Society*, Reich insists that denial, escapism, and resignation are the main obstacles to rebuilding a decent working society.

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