Our
traditional panel of syndicated columnist GiGi Geyer,
University of Notre Dame Professor Robert Schmuhl, and
Mike McGuire of The Chicago Tribune gathered to
review the tumultuous year of 2001. (12/27/01)
WGN's
own Kathy O'Malley, John Williams, and Garry Lee Wright
joined Milt to discuss 'life in the talk trade' and the
year at WGN. (12/18/01)
With
the Taliban and al-Queda on the run, and the war at a seemingly
crucial stage, in-studio guests General David Grange (U.S.
Army, ret.) and Professor Jay Williams of Loyola University
were joined by Fox News Channel's Morton Kondracke and Stephen
Cohen of the Brookings Institution via telephone for another
look at current progress on the military and political fronts.
(12/03/01)
Longtime
Reagan presidential adviser and speechwriter Peggy Noonan
appeared to discuss her book 
When
Character Was King. She looked back at her years in
the White House, analyzed the historical significance of
the Reagan presidency, and, inevitably, offered her take
on the current war. (11/27/01)
Walter
Russell Mead, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
and author of 
Special
Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the
World, was joined by Ed Kolodziej of the University
of Illinois and Arthur Cyr of Carthage College for a broad-ranging
look at the future of American foreign policy in the wake
of September 11 and, of more immediacy, what might follow
our military action in Afghanistan. (11/26/01)
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss visited to talk
about his latest work 
Reaching
for Glory: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1964-1965.
Beschloss has scoured LBJ's archives and compiled his private
conversations during one of the most important, and tragic,
periods in postwar American history--a period that included
Johnson's decision to intervene with massive U.S. military
force in Vietnam. Many clips from the actual tapes are heard
in this interview.(11/19/01)
Chris Matthews of MSNBC's and CNBC's Hardball joined
us to discuss, among other things, the war on terrorism,
the many influences on his political thought, and life on
Hardball. His newest book is 
Now
Let Me Tell You What I Really Think: Playing Hardball with
Chris Matthews. (11/07/01)
General
David Grange (U.S. Army, ret.) and University of Chicago
Political Science Professors Robert Pape and Charles Lipson
analyzed the progress of the military campaign in Afghanistan
and proposed alternate strategies. Frederick Kagan of the
United States Military Academy joined in the discussion
by phone. (11/05/01)
Longtime
General Electric CEO Jack Welch visited to discuss his long
career and the reasons for GE's runaway success under his
leadership. His story and philosophy are revealed in 
Jack:
Straight From the Gut. (10/25/01)
In
our latest look at the war on terrorism, we were joined
in-studio by Richard Friedman of the National Strategy Forum
and Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum, and on the phone
by Donald Kagan of Yale University. (10/23/01)
John
Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University
of Chicago, joined us to discuss his latest work THE
TRAGEDY OF GREAT POWER POLITICS. Examining the
course of international relations in modern history, he
laid out his theory of 'offensive realism,' arguing that
the eternal search for security in an anarchic world leads
states toward aggressive foreign policies and, inevitably,
war. He also analyzes the current war on terrorism and raises
some troubling issues that the administration will face
in the days to come. (10/15/01)
In
our first hour, a simulcast with BBC 5 London's 'Up All
Night with Richard Dallyn', Congressman Henry Hyde, chairman
of the House Committee on International Relations, discussed
the impending war and the American response. The second
hour of the program was devoted to Patrick Daly of the FBI,
who detailed the ongoing federal investigation and advised
American citizens on proper safety measures during this
crisis. (10/05/01)
As
military action seemed increasingly imminent, our in-studio
guests Morton Kondracke of Roll Call magazine and
Fox News Channel, and Marshall Bouton, President of the
Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, offered their views
on the crisis. (10/01/01)
We
continued to examine the war on terrorism with a distinguished
panel: Maj. General David Grange (U.S. Army, retired), columnist
Charles Krauthammer, former Assistant Secretary of Defense
Richard Perle, and Yale University Professor Donald Kagan.
(9/28/01)
Chicago
Tribune columnist John Kass and military historians
Donald and Frederick Kagan, co-authors of WHILE
AMERICA SLEEPS: SELF DELUSION, MILITARY WEAKNESS, AND THE
THREAT TO PEACE TODAY, joined us to discuss the
impact of the attacks on the American psyche, and our appropriate
political and military reactions. (09/19/01)
Extension
720's coverage of the terrorist attacks, their consequences,
and our potential responses included, on September 11, guests
Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum and John Mearsheimer,
Robert Pape, and Charles Lipson of the University of Chicago;
on September 12, Donald Kagan of Yale University and Frederick
Kagan of the United States Military Academy; and on September
14, Morton Kondracke of Roll Call magazine, and Bill
Gertz of The Washington Times. (09/17/01)
Former
Chicago Bears Ted Albrecht, Glen Kozlowski, and Tom Waddle
talk about 'Life in the NFL': the fame and fortune, the
glory and the constant pain, the coaches, and life after
football. (08/30/01)
Richard
Posner, judge of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Senior
Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, analyzes
the decisionmaking of the Florida and United States Supreme
Courts in the disputed 2000 Presidential election, the subject
of his book BREAKING
THE DEADLOCK: THE 2000 ELECTION, THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE
COURTS. More broadly, Judge Posner examines U.S.
election law and proposes remedies to prevent future electoral
trainwrecks from recurring. (08/23/01)
Classical
historians Robert Wallace of Northwestern University and
Greg Anderson of the University of Illinois at Chicago detail
the rise, reign, and eventual fall of ancient Rome, noting
its achievements in politics, culture, economics, technology,
and military affairs, and the dangers and fatal flaws that
arose from its incredible expansion. (08/22/01)
University
of Chicago Professor Leon Kass, M.D., named by President
Bush on August 9 to head his Council on Bioethics, appeared
to discuss human cloning and broader issues of bioethics.
(07/09/01)
French
historians David Jordan of UIC and John Lynn of the University
of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana dissect the French Revolution
from its origins to Bastille Day, through Maximilien Robespierre
and the onset of The Terror, to the spectacular rise of
Napoleon Bonaparte, all in our own celebration of the fall
of the Bastille. (07/17/01--Bastille Day + 3)
Bryan Sykes, Professor of Genetics at the Institute of Molecular
Medicine at Oxford University and author of THE
SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF EVE: THE SCIENCE THAT REVEALS OUR GENETIC
ANCESTRY, presented his latest research, arguing
that our genetic makeup can be traced, with great accuracy,
back to prehistoric times. (07/18/01)
Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic
magazine, visited to discuss THE
BORDERLANDS OF SCIENCE: WHERE SENSE MEETS NONSENSE,
a shattering look at the world of pseudoscience. (06/15/01)
In
celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Declaration
of Independence, we are joined by Revolutionary historians
John Kaminski (University of Wisconsin) and Sheldon Cohen
(Loyola University)--plus our British cousins overseas--for
a simulcast with the BBC program 'Up All Night' and host
Rhod Sharp. We discuss the American Revolution and field
calls from Tory friends in the UK and our own patriotic
citizens. (07/04/01)
Our
panel of Tribune veterans--Dick Ciccone, Bernie Judge, and
Rick Kogan--discuss the life and times of the great Chicagoan
and columnist Mike Royko, the subject of Ciccone's book
ROYKO:
A LIFE IN PRINT. (6/21/01)
Former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State
Henry A. Kissinger discussed the current state of international
politics and his latest book DOES
AMERICA NEED A FOREIGN POLICY?: TOWARD A DIPLOMACY FOR THE
21ST CENTURY. (6/18/01)
Ronald Radosh, longtime radical activist turned neoconservative,
discusses his many years on the American left and his eventual
disillusionment, the topic of a new memoir COMMIES:
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE OLD LEFT, THE NEW LEFT, AND THE LEFTOVER
LEFT. (05/31/01)
Our panelists Michael Turner of the University of Chicago,
Evalyn Gates of Adler Planetarium, and Alan Hirshfeld, author
of PARALLAX:
THE RACE TO MEASURE THE COSMOS, visit to review
the latest in the field of cosmology. (05/23/01)
Military historians John Lynn of the University of Illinois,
Paul Kern, author of ANCIENT
SIEGE WARFARE, and John Votaw of the 1st Division
Museum, discuss war, the evolution of military thought and
practice, and the great battles of history. (02/23/01)
Renowned
historian David McCullough visits Extension 720 to discuss
the subject of his latest biography, JOHN
ADAMS. (6/4/01)
Milt
visits with Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago.
(5/17/01)
Social
critic Heather MacDonald visited Extension 720 to discuss
THE
BURDEN OF BAD IDEAS. (2/22/01)
Milt
talked to Ian Kershaw about his new book
Hitler
1936-1945 Nemesis.
To read Milt's review of this volume, published in The
Chicago Tribune on 26 November 2000, click
here.
Milt talked to 
Secretary
Warren Christopher about his term of office, the current
international situation and the Presidential Election
Milt
talked to Secretary Madeliene Albright about her term of
office and the current international situation
Wednesday
January 10th, Milt talked to PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER as he
discussed his recently published book, 
AN
HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT: MEMOIRS OF A RURAL BOYHOOD
and his view of the recent election debacle.
Monday
December 4th, Milt talked to ANTHONY LAKE, National Security
Advisor to President Clinton from 1993-96, as they discussed
his new book 
6NIGHTMARES:
REAL THREATS IN A DANGEROUS WORLD AND HOW AMERICA CAN MEET
THEM.
Monday
October 2nd, Milt talked to celebrated photographer and
journalist Art Shay about his recent memoir 
ALBUM
FOR AN AGE: UNCONVENTIONAL WORDS AND PICTURES FROM THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY.
Milt
talked to best
selling thriller Ridley Pearson about his new book Middle
of Nowhere, and what it was like being the first recipient
of the Reymond Chandler Fullbright Fellowship in Detective
Fiction at Oxford University.
Wednesday 6th
September and Thursday 7th September. In a two part special
looking at the raising of the next generation Milt talked
to DIANE RAVITCH author of 
LEFT
BACK: A CENTURY OF FAILED SCHOOL REFORMS and
child raising expert
JOHN
ROSEMOND, author, most recently, of 
RAISING
A NON-VIOLENT CHILD
Monday September
4th, 2000. Click below to here Anthony Summers, former head
of BBC News' Investigative Unit, as he joins Milt to discuss
his revealing new biography 
THE
ARROGANCE OF POWER: THE SECRET WORLD OF RICHARD NIXON.
Milt
talked to star of stage and screen Michael York (You saw
him last as Austin Power's English Boss - but he's also
performed Hamlet and starred in Polanski's Romeo and Juliet).
Click below as he and Milt discuss his new book A
SHAKESPEAREAN ACTOR PREPARES
RON
ROSENBAUM, columnist for the New York Observer, joined Milt
to talk about his fascinating new book, 
THE
SECRET PARTS OF FORTUNE: THREE DECADES OF INTENSE INVESTIGATIONS
AND EDGY ENTHUSIASMS. Click below to find out
how ROSENBAUM discovered hundreds of nude photos of the
great and the good squirreled away in a drawer in the Smithsonian
and other startling revelations his inquiries have unearthed.
|
Click
below to hear Milt's interview with CHRISTINA HOFF-SOMMERS
author of  THE
WAR AGAINST BOYS: HOW MISGUIDED FEMINISM IS HARMING
OUR YOUNG MEN.
|
|
A great holiday, or at least a fun day out, may
not be far away. There are many places of interest
in the local area, within Illinois and neighboring
states. To help us navigate the best local vacation
spots our panel of travel experts including JEROME
POHLEN author of  ODDBALL
ILLINOIS, Bonnie Miller Rubin author of
 Quick
Escapes Chicago
and Alan Solomon on of the Tribune's team of award
winning travel writers, offer advice and suggestions
on some of their favorite Midwestern haunts.
|
Milt
talked to Jim Leher about his new historical novel 
THE
SPECIAL PRISONER
|
The
ramming and sinking of the Waleship Essex by a large
male sperm whale provided the inspiration for Melville's
classic tale Moby Dick. Click below to hear Milt
discuss this fascinating story with Nathaniel Philbrick
author of IN
THE HEART OF THE SEA
|
Milt
talked to the creator of Extension 720, former WGN general
manager Bob Henley
July
10th, 2000 Milt talked about Communal Utopias with three
experts including anthropologist Jayne Kamau, former Hutterite
Ruth Lombach and author Abigail Foerstner.
July
6th, 2000 We marked the 75th Anniversary of the Tribune
Tower with a special broadcast from Colonel McCormick's
office on the 24th floor. The Colonel's ghost made a guest
appearance on our panel which included Tribune Editor Howard
Tyner, the paper's architecture critic Blair Kamin and Colonel
John Votaw of the 1st Division Museum.
June
1st, 2000 Milt talked to Sergei Khrushchev, author of Nikita
Khrushchev: the Creation of a Superpower, and Professor
John Bushnell of Northwestern University.
May
15th, 2000 Milt talked with paleoanthropologists Dan Amick,
Jim Brown and Dennis Stamford, about a new theory that the
first people to settle North America may have come from
southwestern Europe and not from Asia as previously thought.
April
10th, 2000 Milt talked with Captain Jim Lovell commander
of Apollo 13
Milt
talks to the General Secretary of NATO, Lord George Robertson
about the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
and other security issues.
Milt
talks to author Francis Stonor Saunders about her new book
The
Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters
which presents for the first time evidence that the CIA
infiltrated every niche of the cultural sphere during the
postwar years.
March
27, 2000 Milt talked to four B-29 fliers about their part
in the air war against Japan.
March
14, 2000 The world would not be in such a snarl - if Marx
had been Groucho instead of Karl.' Whether or not you agree
with Isiah Berlin's birthday message to the mustachioed
comic, it's clear that Marxists of the political variety
have some rather awkward questions to face. The genocides
wrought in communist countries, the economic collapse of
the former Soviet Union and the difficulties of European
Social Democracies could all provide grounds for the rejection
Marx's ideas. Tune in tonight as our expert panel debates
Marx's legacy and the validity and future of Marxist thought.
March
13, 2000 Click below to hear Harvard Professor Marc D Hauser,
author of the new book 
Wild
Minds: What Animals Really Think, discuss parrot
intelligence.
March
8, 2000 Concerning exercise Socrates held that for men and
women, '...experience showed that to let all things be uncovered
was far better than to cover them up.'. Milt's guest, Wendy
Shalit, takes a rather different view. A mere three years
since completing her BA in philosophy, Shalit, author of
A
Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue,
has written a striking and powerful argument for the rehabilitation
of this neglected virtue. Click below to hear Shalit and
Milt as they draw a discrete veil over modern vulgarities
on Extension 720.
March
2, 2000 We all know that our ancestors had some unusual
ideas about the function of the internal organs. Aristotle,
for example, observes that ' ..the spleen looks rather like
a bastard liver... ' and thus concludes that it does the
liver's work for the left side of the body. Click below
to hear Sherwin Nuland explore the fascinating history of
our misconceptions about the internal organs in his new
book 
The
Mysteries Within: A Surgeon Reflects on Medical Myths.
February
3, 2000 When asked recently by the editors of the Wall Street
Journal which book (besides the Bible) had most influenced
him, Gov. George W. Bush replied: "
The
Dream and the Nightmare
by Myron Magnet crystallized for me the impact the failed
culture of the sixties had on our values and society. It
helped create dependency on government, undermine family
and eroded values which had stood the test of time and which
are critical if we want a decent and hopeful tomorrow for
every single American." Click below to hear Magnet discuss
with Milt the arguments contained in The Dream
and the Nightmare
and their recurring significance in American political life.
February
2, 2000 John Nance, Boeing 737 captain, aviation editor
and analyst for Good Morning America and ABC news, joins
Milt to discuss air safety and his latest terrifyingly realistic
novel 
Blackout.
January 28, 2000
Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg Life at the Zoo.
Mark Rosenthal, Dennis Pate and David Bernier talk to Milt
about their life and work at Lincoln Park Zoo.
January 18, 2000
Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg Former Ebony editor
Hans J. Massaquoi about his experiences growing up black
in Nazi Germany as recounted in his new book 
DESTINED
TO WITNESS (William Morrow & Co).
January 11th,
2000 Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg Bioethics:
The current ethical challenges created by the explosion
of emerging technologies have created dilemmas that challenge
all of us to reconsider fundamental notions of life and
consciousness. The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
brings a Christian perspective to these issues, and tonight
John Kilner, director of the Center, and Nigel Cameron,
a professor and consultant for the Center, talk of their
views on such issues as human embryo research, euthanasia,
and cloning. Joining them will be Leon Kass, a physician
who teaches and writes on ethics as professor in the Committee
on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
January 7, 2000
Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg Speaking of Language.
Most of us don't give much thought to the words we use,
why we use them, or their history, but there is a large
group of specialists who study those issues intently, believing
that language is a reflection of who we are. Linguistics
is the study of language (its origins, its structure, and
its continuing evolution), and tonight we will be joined
by three nationally respected linguistics scholars, Walt
Wolfram, Mark Aronott and Donna Christian, who will take
us on a trip across this fascinating field of study.
January 3, 2000
Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg What's on Now?
The long winter nights often means long hours trying to
find something to watch on TV. Join our panel of professional
television watchers -- Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Sun-Times,
Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, and Joanne Weintraub
of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- to discover what's
worth watching now and what should be approached at your
own risk.
December 30, 1999
Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg A Review of the
Year 1999 with clips from some of the most memorable programmes
of the year, including the visit of Eugene Cernan the last
man on the moon, George Stephanopolous, Rene Flemming, Judge
Richard Posner and Isaac Stern.
December 27, 1999
Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg A panel discussion
of the most significant news events of the year featuring
the expert opinions of Georgie Anne Geyer, Mike McGuire
and Professor Robert Schmuhl.
October 25,
1999 Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg You've heard
a lot about and maybe have even read Dutch, Edmund Morris'
biography of Ronald Reagan. Here, Milt spends two hours
talking with Morris about the life of our fortieth President,
as well as the controversy surrounding the book. They are
joined by former Reagan cabinet member Joe Morris.
June 24, 1999
Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg and Detective Bruce
Walstad. Bruce is an expert in cons and scams who trains
members of the public and law enforcement officials to deal
with confidence tricksters.
June 16th, 1999
Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg and William Doyle
author of Inside the Oval Office (Kodansha).
William tracked down a large number of tape recordings from
the Oval Office of presidents from FDR to Clinton. Some
excerpts from these tapes were played during the show -
including some that had never been aired in public before.
April
12th, 1999 Extension
720 with Milt Rosenberg THE
IRISH QUESTION: What are the prospects that the fragile
peace in Northern Ireland will last? Can generations of
enmity be put aside as the province struggles towards a
civil society? Can the paradox of decommissioning weapons
be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties? Senator
George Mitchell, the chair of the peace talks and a
key figure in the historic settlement discusses the peace
process, Nobel prizes and the future of the province with
Milt tonight. And in all likelihood there will be much else
to discuss, including the mess in the Balkans and other
problems on the foreign policy agenda.
