Discussing American democracy and interviewing Henry Steele Commager. Commager is an eminent historian who published an annotated version of Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America".

According to Henry Kneplers book, " The Gilded Stage," back in the 1600's, highly regarded women were either actresses on the stage or they were aristocrats or nobility. Knepler said the role of primary grade school teachers were women. Currently, there's some discrimination going on, as Knepler pointed out that one never sees a male airline stewardess.

While visiting Paris, France Studs talks with Henry Barraud. Monsieur Barraud speaks of writing three different types of Opera: Grand Opera, Opera Comique, and Opera Bouffe. Monsier Barraud and Studs discusses a bit of each piece. They end their time discussing the other forms of music that he writes and his work with Paris Radio.

German theologian Heinrich Gruber and pastor Howard Schomer discuss Nazi Germany and resistance

Studs interviews Harry Chapin about his music and career. They discuss Chapin’s style of writing songs. Chapin describes some of his songs such as “Cats In the Cradle,” “Sniper,” “WOLD,” and “Mr. Tanner.” He stresses that his songs tell stories and often are influenced by real-life events. For example, “30,000 Bananas Pounds of Bananas” came from a trip he took on a Greyhound bus through Pennsylvania where there was a truck accident.

Singer Harry Belafonte discusses Black music including spirituals and jazz and how it has contributed to American culture.

Mr Barnard discusses being a writer and biographer. He strongly discusses the theory, What is literature? and states, "If the work(writing) enriches the person reading and causes deep thought it is literature." He is working, at the time of broadcast, on the papers, notes manuscripts of Upton Sinclair preparing to . He was also writer in residence at Roosevelt University at the time of broadcast.

Harrison Salisbury discusses his book “The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad” and the lasting impact of the siege on the Soviet Union and life in Leningrad during the siege. Salisbury reads a poem by Olga Bergholz.Isabella Zorina discusses a trip to mass graves, including the many young people who were also visiting, some as part of wedding ceremonies, and the music played at the graves. Terkel plays Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, at the end of the program.

His experiences as a journalist are what's covered in Harrison Evans Salisbury's book, "A Time of Change: A Reporter's Tale of Our Time". Salisbury believed as a reporter, one truly needed to be at the event, in order to obtain the true story. Once Salisbury questioned if he was living in America because he was asked to switch rooms at a hotel in Birmingham, only to find out later that there were special, bugged rooms for reporters.

Studs Terkel talks to New York Times journalist Harrison E. Salisbury about his book on the Russian Revolution of 1917 entitled, "Black Night, White Snow", detailing the roles of the SR's, Lenin and the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, the Narodniks, Kerensky, Kropotkin, Stalin, Zinoviev and more.

Harold Prince discusses his direction of Madame Butterfly while also discussing operas, musicals, and theater in general.

Being both a theatre critic and a theatre director prompted Harold Clurman to write his book, "The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre and the 30's". Clurman hopes that with every play a viewer sees, he or she then takes that material and ponders the message. Clurman explained that plays were a way to communicate truth about life.

Content Warning: This conversation includes racially and/or culturally derogatory language and/or negative depictions of Black and Indigenous people of color, women, and LGBTQI+ individuals. Rather than remove this content, we present it in the context of twentieth-century social history to acknowledge and learn from its impact and to inspire awareness and discussion. Former Assistant Warden of the Cook County Jail, Hans W.

Dr. Guy Duckworth and his students sing and play, "America." Duckworth talks about the importance of knowing how to learn to play the piano. The 11-year-old students first play a plain or harmonic version of "America', followed by other versions with more chords that add variety to "America."

Musician, pianist, and educator Guy Duckworth and three of his young students at Northwestern--Darrah Cloud, David Greenberg, and Scott MacMillan--discuss teaching and learning piano. Part 1 of 2.