Harry Kreisler: Political Awakenings

Conversations Host and Executive Producer Harry Kreisler discusses his new book, "Political Awakenings," and tells the story of the Conversations series. Kreisler traces the origins of program, describes his vision of the craft of interviewing, and talks about the ways technology dramatically increased access to the CWH program creating a global audience. He then discusses the origin of the book and its content. Choosing twenty interviews from the 485 in the Conversations archive he focused on those interviewees that stand out because they came to see their world in a radically different way, with important implications for The World. They embraced ideas and actions that implied an alternative way of perceiving politics. In this context, politics means more than party affiliation; it refers to an understanding of power relations. They applied these insights in a variety of arenas, whether world affairs, the role of women in society, the impact on the environment of human behavior. In their own lives, the insights of these guests didnt just happen but were the consequences of life experiences that helped clarify the way things held together—moments of political awakening.