Janis Ian discusses her career, life, and her songs. The songs she talks about are "Society's Child", "Janey's Blues", "Honey D'Ya Think", "There Are Times", "Shady Acres", and "Lonely One". Janis Ian also discusses society, race relations, and responsibility. Includes Studs Terkel reading Janis Ian's poem "Poem One". Includes Janis Ian reading her poem.

Cole Porter biographer Robert Kimball talks with Studs about his book "Cole" and his subject's life and work as they listen to classic performances of some of his most beloved songs. They marvel at how Porter perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the times in his lyrics, his lyrical influences, his unique method of outside-in composing lyrics and music simultaneously, Bobby Short's masterful interpretations, controversies over some of his works, and how well his material holds up.

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

Presenting "Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression" Chapter 3: Big Business & A Portrait of Two Women. William Benton credits Pepsodent's survival of the Great Depression to Amos 'n Andy. Arthur Robertson talks about the initial aftermath of the 1929 crash as a Wall Street businessman. Sidney Weinberg discusses the confusion on Wall Street after the crash and praises FDR's programs. Jimmy McPartland talks about the importance of working and the success of WPA to boost morale.

Anna Deavere Smith discusses and demonstrates her unique character portrayals from her works "Fires in the Mirror" and "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992."

Rita Moreno talks about her own Puerto Rican ethnicity and how it relates to her role as Anita in West Side Story.

Rita Moreno talks about her own Puerto Rican ethnicity and how it relates to her role as Anita in West Side Story.

Discussing the book "Leadership, love and aggression. As the twig is bent: the psychological factors in the making of four black leaders - Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Wright and Martin Luther King Jr." with the anthropologist-author Allison Davis.

Discussing "Jesse Jackson, the Man, the Movement, the Myth" and interviewing the author Barbara Reynolds.

What started out as a 5-piece article on health care became Laurie Abraham's book, "Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America". Through her stories, Abraham points out the many hardships and catch-22 scenarios of some poor families. One woman, after caring for her mother all day, Julie, wanted to work part time in the evenings. However, she soon learned that she'd be making too much money and she'd no longer be eligible for Medicaid for herself and her children.