Episodes
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High School Pressure Cooker
This episode examines the level of stress experienced by many secondary school students in America. We probe the causes and effects. And we look at positive coping skills kids can learn and ideas on how to restructure. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit…
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Horizons of Focus with David Allen
Learning how to focus on different life horizons—from daily responsibilities to broader personal goals—is covered in this enlightening dialogue about “Making It All Work,” the book by best-selling author David Allen. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org…
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Helping Prisoners to Heal, Pt2
When prisoners are freed — as more than 9 in 10 eventually are, they often are harshly stigmatized. Nationwide, nearly half of those paroled end up back in jail. The pattern of recidivism inflicts enduring harm on the safety and wholeness of society and on these individuals. Our audio documentary...
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Helping Prisoners to Heal, Pt1
More than a million Americans are locked in jails and prisons. Helping them recover from earlier trauma can safeguard society. Hear the stories of ex-prisoners who’ve begun to heal, through the inspired work of Robin Casarjian. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit...
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Libraries Reimagined, Pt3
In this segment, we examine the importance of early literacy, starting with the simple act of reading aloud to a very young child. Librarians, pediatricians and others weigh in on how these bonding experiences demonstrate for children that reading can be a source of pleasure (just ask a toddler…
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The Illumination of Rumi
To the astonishment of publishers, Jalaluddin Rumi has become the best-selling poet in America. Rumi’s sensational popularity is notable not only because of its content—an intoxicated, rapturous love letter to the divine. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit...
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Uncommon Ground, Pt2
The dialogues among women with opposing views on abortion gave new insight into how to handle difference, without dehumanizing those we disagree with. Hear how the participants struggled to find understanding, to abandon needlessly inflammatory language and to establish meaningful friendships,...
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Uncommon Ground, Pt1
In the wake of shocking violence at abortion clinics, two apparent enemies — women representing pro-choice and pro-life factions in the Boston area, where shootings had occurred — were forced to communicate, for the sake of everyone’s safety. What unfolded over many months was one of the most...
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The Power of the Pardon, Pt2
In today’s pay-to-play political environment, and with almost no rules, is the pardon ripe for abuse? In effect, it’s a “get out of jail free” card, as in the Monopoly board game. Donald Trump says, “It’s the most powerful thing a president has.” We hear legal experts, an investigative reporter…
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The Power of the Pardon, Pt1
The Constitution allows the president to grant pardons – originally intended as a way to show mercy. But is the pardon ripe for abuse? Hear the history, from the pardoning of Nixon, to the Bidens, to the Jan. 6 rioters. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit…
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Bill Siemering
Hear Bill Siemering, the visionary who helped to found NPR and wrote its initial mission statement, articulate the important role public broadcasting plays in our democracy. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and…
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Breaking the Cycle
The stories of people in recovery from alcoholism, who had to work through denial and sometimes harsh consequences on the road to sobriety, which can present its own ongoing emotional challenges. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials...
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The Social Brain
Daniel Goleman is a former New York Times science reporter specializing in how brain function affects the way we feel and perceive life, particularly how people develop different levels of empathy. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind…
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Facing the Unthinkable
The 2023 film ‘Oppenheimer’ reminds us of our unfinished business in the nuclear age. Hear Ira Helfand, an emergency room physician, describe the main barrier to addressing this problem: our denial that nuclear arms could cause the gravest emergency of all. To see additional resources and our…
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The Power of Belief, Pt2
We travel to a Detroit program for pediatric cancer patients founded by a rabbi whose daughter died of cancer. He teaches martial arts to young patients, helping them find inner strength. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are…
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The Power of Belief, Pt 1
What is the role of a patient’s attitude in facing a serious illness? Are the benefits that many people derive from faith also available to cancer patients who feel uncomfortable with religion? What are the connections between a person’s beliefs and their ability to attain physical healing? To…
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Waste and Want
A community service organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts rescues food that would be routinely discarded by grocers, produce companies and others and delivers it to those in need including pantries and elderly meal sites. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit...
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Judicial Independence, Pt2
Have our courts – intended by America’s founders to be an independent arbiter of justice – turned into another political battlefield? Are today’s judges mere “politicians in robes”? This public radio documentary series looks at crucial flashpoints in recent decades. Will rulings follow the...
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Judicial Independence, Pt1
Have our courts – intended by America’s founders to be an independent arbiter of justice – turned into another political battlefield? Are today’s judges mere “politicians in robes”? This public radio documentary series looks at crucial flashpoints in recent decades. Because federal judges are...
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Home Cooking
We explore the significant benefits of home-cooked meals, including improved family dynamics, greater likelihood of healthy ingredients, lower costs, reduced carbon footprint and taking time together to appreciate the food we receive. To see additional resources and our other programs, please…
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Income Inequality
We consider the dramatic increase in income inequality—now at levels that preceded the Great Depression—and how this wealth gap relates to a host of conditions, from personal illness to incarceration. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind...
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Generous Giving
We examine current trends in charitable giving by individuals and foundations with Stacy Palmer, long-time editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and one of America’s most knowledgeable journalists about the nation’s $316 billion charitable sector. To see additional resources and our other...
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Journey of the Deaf-Blind
We hear the story of Mary Gillespie, a woman born with normal hearing and vision, but who developed several illnesses starting at age ten. Gradually, she became deaf-blind. Now living in Los Angeles, Mary is a regular volunteer at the Braille Institute, where we recorded this remarkable episode…
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Culture of Distraction
Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Empire of Illusion”, maintains that our popular culture cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy, dangerously relying on spectacle, false idols, and snake oil salesmen. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit...
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Aging in Community, Pt4
Nearly 5 million direct care workers assist America’s older adults. They perform their duties in private homes, residential care settings and nursing facilities. Often paid low wages, many rely on some form of public assistance to make ends meet. A surprising number are homeless. Yet the labor…
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Ahead of His Time, Charles Sumner, Pt2
A look at how slaveholders mercilessly trafficked in human beings, the outrageous Fugitive Slave Act and the time Sumner was viciously assaulted for his beliefs on the floor of the U.S. Senate To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are...
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Aging in Community, Pt3
Millions of adult children or other relatives are caring for older loved ones. They do this out of love, but the cumulative burden can be heavy. We’ll hear stories of how different families manage the duties of eldercare. We also include useful suggestions from a leading professor of nursing on…
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Ahead of His Time: The Story of Charles Sumner, Pt1
We examine the remarkable life of Charles Sumner, a U.S. senator from Mass. who boldly championed the abolition of slavery. Sumner coined the phrase “equality before the law” and was viciously assaulted for his beliefs. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit…
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Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsong
In this poignant profile taped prior to his death due to complications from a rare form of muscular dystrophy, child poet and peacemaker Mattie Stepanek showed wisdom beyond his years. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard…
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The Placebo Effect
We explore the mysterious ability of placebos to promote measurable physical healing, even when no medicine is present, and what this tells us about the power of belief and the body’s capacity for self-curative potential. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit...
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Words of War and Peace
Author Cynthia Wachtell describes contrasting views of war in American literature, including the Civil War reflections of Walt Whitman and the fervent anti-war beliefs expressed by Mark Twain in several works. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org ....
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Hospice Doc Joel Bauman
In this documentary we enter a rich dialogue with Joel Bauman, a remarkably gifted physician, trained in care for the elderly. He describes the special needs of palliative care for hospice patients, who have shifted from seeking a cure (which may no longer be realistic) to relief of symptoms and...
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Barely Getting By, Pt2
In a country as wealthy as the United States, “working poor” should be a contradiction in terms. But tens of millions of Americans fall into that category, affecting a growing population of children. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind...
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Books to Prisoners
The Prisoners Literature Project, an all-volunteer service based in Berkeley, California, packages and ships books to people who are incarcerated, as a humanitarian gesture and one that helps inmates prepare for re-entry into society. To see additional resources and our other programs, please…
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Answering the Need, Pt2
Years into an uneven economic recovery throughout the United States, more and more Americans will be relying on the good will of their neighbors. When and how to help people in poverty is an ancient ethical question. But in most cases, there remains a wall between the poor and everyone else. This...
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Answering the Need, Pt1
With the tightening economy, increased middle class anxiety, home foreclosures and lengthening lines at soup kitchens throughout the United States, more and more and more Americans will be relying on the good will of their neighbors. This documentary examines why people decide to offer their time...
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Medicine’s River of Meaning
Physician, philosopher and best-selling author Rachel Remen describes her remarkable course, “The Healer’s Art,” taught at medical schools throughout the United States. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX...
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Chuck Collins -Common Good
The heir to the Oscar Mayer fortune, Chuck Collins, examines income inequality, sustainable local economies and his personal journey in a provocative new book, “Born on Third Base.” To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on…
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The Right to Vote, Pt2
Should voters be required to show ID at the polls? Some Americans believe that ensures honest elections; while others see it as an unnecessary obstacle to minority voters. And we consider whether people who’ve committed felonies should be allowed to vote, after serving their time. To see…
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Teaching Nonviolence, Pt 1
In a world of too much violent conflict, this documentary asks: Can the traits of peacemaking be taught to young people in schools? Examining this imperative question are some of America’s most innovative leaders in the field of conflict resolution education and peace studies. To see additional...
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Giving Voice to Youth
Barbara Cervone, a lifelong educator who started a network of small schools and later became a grantmaker involved in investing hundreds of millions of dollars in public schools, undertook a new venture in 2001. She founded What Kids Can Do as a national effort to amplify the voices of young...
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Eric Foner – Justice Denied, Pt2_26
Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln historian Eric Foner chronicles the Dred Scott decision (often derided as the Supreme Court’s worst ruling), which held that black people have “no rights” and aggravated tensions between north and south, setting the stage for the bloody Civil War. To see additional...
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Power of Concentration with George Mumford
George Mumford teaches top athletes the “superpowers” of mindfulness, concentration, insight, right effort and trust as techniques to strengthen performance and avoid the trap of spiritual demise. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials...
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Living Fully with Illness
The power of a patient’s self-reflection as a tool for coping with illness is explored by a nurse scientist who has studied meditation as a health technique, and by a cancer survivor who teaches other patients about the value of therapeutic writing in expressing their inward feelings. To see...
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Unintended Consequences(Children of Alcoholics)
We consider the plight of tens of millions of Americans in families and relationships with alcoholics. How does the destabilizing influence of active addiction affect family systems? What emotional and life challenges are faced by people raised around alcoholism? To see additional resources and…
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Public Radio in Democracy
Bill Siemering, NPR’s first program director and the author of its inspiring mission statement, recounts the network’s early goal of honoring diversity by including a variety of American voices. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials…
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Beyond War: Waging Peace, Pt 1
In these special Humankind documentaries, ‘Beyond War’ takes a look back at the last time the U.S. military had major involvement in the Middle East. We examine the true human costs of organized violence (for both soldiers and civilians). And what happens when citizens protest against war? How...
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Nonviolent Communication
It’s been said that we’ve learned how to speak but not necessarily how to communicate. Rarely are we taught the art of deep listening or how to respond to someone without accusation or blame or the ability to articulate our own needs without putting others on the defensive. To see additional...
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Anthony Burns/Fugitive Slave
In this documentary we explore how federal courts enforced fugitive slave laws. Historians, actors and legal scholars re-create the famous case of a young escaped slave who was sent back by a Boston judge, provoking America’s largest abolitionist protest. To see additional resources and our other...
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Steps to Recovery, Pt2
In the second half of our documentary on the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, we examine the AA recovery principles that have promoted sobriety for millions of recovering alcoholics and have created a template to help people worldwide who struggle with many forms of addiction. To view additional...
About this show
Weekly podcast from public radio’s award-winning program Humankind
Hosted by
David Freudberg
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