Lisa Fittko discusses her experience as an anti-fascist resistance fighter in Berlin, Germany during World War II. They also explore accounts from her book "Solidarity and Treason: Resistance and Exile, 1933-1940".

Studs interview with German writer and freelance journalist, Dieter Lattman, who shares his military family background and the influence that WW II had on his desire to involve himself in politics. They discuss other German authors and the German family and culture. Studs quotes German journalist and political critic, Joachim Kaiser, who called the young people of Germany a "fatherless generation." Studs interviews Lattman in Germany.

Photographer David Scherman talks with Studs Terkel about the stories that photos can tell, famous photographers, and the book “The Best of Life,” which Scherman edited. A recording of the song “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” by the Weavers is played.

Daniel Yergin, author and economic historian, discusses his book, "Shattered Peace: The Origins of the Cold War and the National Security State." He explains the key players in the Cold War and his thoughts on the Yalta and Riga Axioms. Yergin also explores the end of World War II and other events that led to the tensions between US and the Soviet Union.

Who were these ordinary people who killed and what made them do what they did are among the questions answered in Daniel Goldhagen's book, "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust". Jews were in league with the devil and their alleged evil came from their biology. It was believed, for the good of the country, to get rid of the German threat, the Jews had to be exterminated, according to Goldhagen.

The Big Three leaders - Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman - are among the main topics of Charles L. Mee's book, "Meeting at Potsdam." It was the ending stages of World War II and as Mee explains, the meeting at Postdam was really a peace conference. The beginning of this recording includes an excerpt of a speech by Churchill.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Evolution and the future of the human race are among topics in Carl Sagan's and Ann Druyan's book, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are." Included is an excerpt of the astronomer Harlow Shapley speaking at the beginning. Carl Sagan also reads an excerpt from the book at the end.

Bruno Bettelheim discusses his book "The informed heart: Autonomy in a mass age". The book chronicles his time in concentration camps in Germany during World War II and discusses the dangers of the advancement of technology and how a totalitarian government impacts the personality of its' people.

Bruno Bettelheim discusses his book "The informed heart: Autonomy in a mass age". The book chronicles his time in concentration camps in Germany during World War II and discusses the dangers of the advancement of technology and how a totalitarian government impacts the personality of its' people.