Author Douglas Dowd discusses topics from his book "Blues For America: A Critique, A Lament, and Some Memories," including war, religion, and American history.

The program starts with a short clip of Studs Terkel interviewing Peggy Terry talking about The Great Depression and American propaganda during Vietnam War. After that clip. Dotson Rader starts to talk about his book "I ain't marchin' anymore"

Doris May Lessing discusses the inspiration behind "The Four-Gated City", her thoughts about science and humanity, and her predictions for the future.

Dorris Lessing says in this society, we are all savages. According to Lessing, in 10 years, millions will die of starvation. Arnold Wesker says we live in a society of chaos and as a society, our end goal is produce something to deal with and eliminate the chaos.

Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about her book and her relationship with President Johnson.

In her book, “Liberty Denied: The Current Rise of Censorship in America,” Donna Demac points out that we, as a society, are not as free as we think we are. Demac can’t understand why anyone would want to keep people from reading great pieces of literature. While some groups called certain books anti-Christian, Demac said no one has ever died from reading a four-letter word.

Discussing the book "Biko" with the author Donald Woods.

Donald Sassoon, professor and writer, discusses his book “One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European Left in the Twentieth Century.” Sassoon explores the history of socialism in Europe since 1889 and socialism's relationship with capitalism. He explains how the 1930 depression and World War II affected the growth of socialism in Europe and America. He also explains the creation and government of the Soviet Union

"Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films is Donald Bogle's study of Black actors and the roles they played in movies. Bogle believed it was important for Black people to see Black heroes in movies. Bogle concluded there were too few roles available for Black actors and too many roles were of stereotypes.

Terkel comments and presents Don Luce reading poetry

Don Gold, writer and editor, discusses his book "Bellevue: A Documentary of a Large Metropolitan Hospital." He recounts his time spent following doctors and nurses in Bellevue in New York City and discusses how healthcare has become depersonalized. The conversation involves patients who are dealing with mental illnesses, abortions, attempted suicide and the terminally ill. The interview includes reading of passages from his book.