IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices

Series produced by Guy Rathbun

Series image

This weekly show is devoted to political, social, economic, ecological, philosophical and religious ideas.

This series has been broadcast on public radio, and podcast on National Public Radio for the past 10 years, and has included such luminaries as Robert Reich, Chris Hedges, Michael K. Hudson, Vincent Buligosi, Richard Heinberg, and many more.


561 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Something in the Water, Credit: Jacket
Every day across America we deal with the ugliness from our past. From 1600 to today, racism rears its ugly head. Every time we feel we’ve made pro...

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  • Added: Jan 19, 2021
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Jacket cover
Just over 30-years ago, Laura Levitt was brutally raped. At the time, she was close to completing her graduate work in religion and Jewish studies....

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  • Added: Jan 12, 2021
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Book cover, Credit: Jacket design Danielle Allyssa
In March of 2020, after months of downplaying of COVID by officials, the death rate could no longer be ignored. By late fall, as many Americans wer...

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  • Added: Jan 05, 2021
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Arthur Lieber
It wasn’t that long ago that the Democratic party was primarily made up of blue collar workers. That has flipped in the last few years, especially ...

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  • Added: Dec 28, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Wolfgang Mac
Imagine spending your youth witnessing to the rise of Nazi Germany under Hitler’s dictatorship. You’re watching your country fall into the hands of...

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  • Added: Dec 21, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Dr. Philip Landrigan
Thousands of new chemicals have been developed and released into the global environment during the last four decades. Yet, most of those chemicals ...

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  • Added: Dec 15, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Kenneth Foard McCallion
America’s electoral system has had a rough time over the last 20 years. Two of the last four president’s did not receive the national majority vote...

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  • Added: Dec 07, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Connor Towne O'Neill
Separate but equal. That phrase came from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896. It was a landmark decision known as Plessy v Ferguson that upheld the con...

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  • Added: Nov 30, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Andrew Maynard
Most of us spend a good part of our time in the future. That is, we ponder what tomorrow brings. Or, even later today. Though we only have a snapsh...

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  • Added: Nov 23, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
Data shows that women are most often the family member who becomes the self appointed chief medical officer or primary caregiver. That unofficial ...

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  • Added: Nov 17, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Dr. Howard Frumkin
Recent events around the globe clearly demonstrates the interconnectedness of human health and the health of our planet. Heat waves in California, ...

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  • Added: Nov 10, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Jennie C. Stephens
The inadequate response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the US has also thwarted the country’s response to the climate crisis. Some feel it’s due to le...

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  • Added: Nov 02, 2020
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Jean Reith Schroedel
When we hear about voter suppression, we usually think of the multiple attempts at preventing blacks from voting. What we seldom hear about are the...

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  • Added: Oct 27, 2020
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Robert Jay Lifton
Following decades researching cults, Robert Jay Lifton concludes “that the psychological relationship between extremist political movements and fan...

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  • Added: Oct 20, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Steven Dudley
Most of us, by now, are familiar with the gang known as MS-13. How it evolved into a violent group is a peculiar story with a twist on its evolution.

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  • Added: Oct 13, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Spencer Critchley
A well run democracy takes a lot of work on the part of the citizenry. People need to be informed. In America today, there is a rising brand of lib...

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  • Added: Oct 06, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Paul Halpern
There always seems to be a peculiar twist in understanding our world. How it works. Just when we think of have a grip on it, like a greased pig, it...

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  • Added: Sep 29, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Frank Martela
With the topsy-turvy world we live in today, it is difficult to have a positive, rosy spin on things. COVID, fires, hurricanes, and the weakening e...

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  • Added: Sep 22, 2020
  • Length: 29:01
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Maya Schenwar
There is a litany of names for what is understood to be substitutes for jail or prison. Electronic monitoring. Locked-down drug treatment facilitie...

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  • Added: Sep 15, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Gene Sperling
COVID has put America in a health and economic tailspin. The loss of loved ones that is growing every day, jobs that may never return, evictions fo...

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  • Added: Sep 09, 2020
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 1