This past week Aspen Institute Radio focused on the latest sessions from around the Institute, including conversations on society and community enhancement. This episode features an interview with HBO’s The Wire actor Wendell Pierce and Tony Award-winning director and producer Gregory Mosher, as well as talks with New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof and Nobel Laureate Robert J. Shiller.
Aspen Institute Radio, our two-hour radio show, airs every Saturday and Sunday on SiriusXM Insight (channel 121). Each episode dives into the topics that inform the world around us. Here in our weekly Listen Longer posts, we’ll recap each episode and show where you can read, watch, and listen to more. Don’t have SiriusXM? Try it free for a month here.
What Every American Should Know: Cultural Literacy in the 21st Century
As debate rages on issues of race, immigration and religion, the question of what holds us together is more relevant than ever. This panel discussion on cultural literacy and the need for a shared core of knowledge in 21st-century America features E.D. Hirsch Jr., author of the seminal 1987 book “Cultural Literacy;” Eric Liu, executive director of the Aspen Institute Citizenship and American Identity Program and author of “How to Be American” in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas; and Alyssa Rosenberg, lead culture blogger at The Washington Post.
Conversations with Great Leaders: Nicholas Kristof
The Conversations with Great Leaders in Memory of Preston Robert Tisch series highlights great leadership in action through interviews with key leaders from all sectors of civic life. This program features a conversation between journalist and author Nicholas Kristof, and PBS NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan.
Theater in Extremis: Waiting for Godot in New Orleans and Antigone in the World
In 2007, actor Wendell Pierce joined forces with New York’s Creative Time to stage a production of Waiting for Godot in areas of New Orleans hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Pierce recounts this incredible story, as well as excerpts from his memoir, “The Wind in the Reeds.” Acclaimed director and producer Gregory Mosher also joins the conversation, sharing how he orchestrated productions of Antigone in the World within overlooked communities in Kenya and South Africa.
Finance & Society Discussions: Robert J. Shiller
The inaugural convening of the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program’s new Finance & Society Discussion Series featured Yale Professor and Nobel Laureate Robert J. Shiller. Shiller discussed his most recent books — “Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation” and “Deception”— as well as the latest edition of “Irrational Exuberance” with Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell.
