Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes University of Pennsylvania political scientist Ian Lustick for a discussion of the War on Terror including its erroneous assumptions, its consequences for domestic politics, and its implications for Al Queda's long term strategy. He compares the Bush administration response to 911 to America's response to the Soviet threat during the Cold War. (57 min)

Conversations with History host Harry Kreisler welcomes Earl Anthony Wayne, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs. They discuss changes in U.S. economic policy under President George W. Bush. (53 min)

On this episode of Conversations with History, UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler talks with Elizabeth Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, about U.S. foreign policy and the change after 9/11. (53 min)

On this episode of Conversations with History, UC BerkeleyŐs Harry Kreisler welcomes guest Ambassador Princeton Lyman, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and to South Africa, who discusses U.S. foreign policy and state power in an era of globalization. 53 min)

Historian and author Walter Russell Mead, in a conversation with UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler explores the ideas that have shaped and defined U.S. foreign policy throughout American history. (57 min)

International Relations specialist Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, analyzes U.S. national interest in the Middle East and talks about his new book, The Stakes, America and the Middle East. (58 min)

On this edition of Conversations with History, host Harry Kreisler welcomes Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Chair for peace and Development at the University of Maryland, for an intriguing dialogue on the search for peace in the Middle East. (59 min)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Michael Scheuer, a 20 year veteran of the CIA, who in the 1990's headed the search for Osama Bin Laden and the rendition program to imprison jihadists. Scheuer discusses the career of Osama bin Laden, the origins of the rendition program, and the failure of the US foreign policy elite to understand the challenges posed by jihadist terrorism. (55 minutes)

In this 1983 interview, Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes one of America's most distinguished journalists Tom Wicker for a discussion of the Presidency and the media at the height of the Cold War. (58 min)

In this edition, UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler talks with Ira Michael Heyman, former Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and former Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Chancellor Heyman discusses leadership, the challenges facing higher education and the problems of managing public museums. (58 min)

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, U.S. Army (ret.), for a discussion of the break down of the national security process in the G.W. Bush Administration. Col. Wilkerson offers an insider's view of the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal that drove American policy in the wake of the Al Qaeda attack on 911. The Vice President’s manipulation of the policy process, he argues, led to a lack of a post conflict planning for Iraq and the failure to abide by the Geneva conventions. Wilkerson analyzes the motives of Cheney/Rumsfeld, their penchant for secrecy, and speculates long term costs to American democracy and power. (58 minutes)

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes biophysicist Chikashi Toyoshima for a discussion of his remarkable achievement in capturing the first images of cellular activity as the calcium ion pump makes possible the contraction and relaxation of muscle tissue on a signal from the brain. Topics covered include: how structure determines process in cellular activity, the technical innovations required for this breakthrough in the biosciences, and why visualization is so important in understanding cellular processes. He also reflects on creativity in science and how the images he captured affected his understanding of humankind's place in the universe. (52 minutes)

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes historian and novelist Michael Oren for a discussion of the search for truth in his historical studies and in his novels. He reflects on the skills and temperament required to do history and fiction focusing on his study of the six day war in the Middle East and his novel Reunion. (54 min)

Classicist and columnist Victor Davis Hanson talks with UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler about the classics, war, and what we stand for in the post-9/11 world. (56 min)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Peter Dale Scott for a discussion of secrecy and its consequences in the making of U.S. foreign policy. Their discussion focuses on CIA interventions, the rise of Al Qaeda, the role of U.S. government in supporting Islamic jihadists to counter Soviet power during the Cold War, and the response of the Bush administration to the 911 attack. (59 minutes)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Mark Leonard, Executive Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, for a discussion of the ideas that are influencing the domestic and foreign policy debates in China. Through a careful examination of what Chinese intellectuals have to say on topics such as democracy, economy, and international relations, Leonard finds distinctive Chinese worldviews. The West must understand the contours of these debates to effectively address China's rise because they offer important insights into how China will use its enormous power to shape world order in the twenty-first century. (59 minutes)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Louise Richard, Executive Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, for a discussion of how to understand terrorism and contain the threat. (56 minutes)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes economist Anders Aslund for a discussion of Russia after the fall of communism. He analyzes the reasons for the succcessful implementation of a market economy and the reasons for the failure to achieve a democratic revolution. He compares the leadership of Gorbachev, Yelstin, and Putin. Anders Aslund also discusses the implications of authoritarian rule by Putin for Russia and for relations with the West. (55 minutes)

Conversations Host Harry Kreisler welcomes philosopher Martha Nussbaum for a discussion of women and human development, religious freedom, and liberal education. (55 min)