Humankind on Public Radio

In this documentary, we explore what it's like to experience “moral injury”— when soldiers witness or participate in war-time acts that violate their conscience. The impact they undergo confirms an enduring truth: on the battlefield, everyone is a victim. How does one come to terms with a deeply painful incident from the past? When deep […]

Some people give no charity at all. But of Americans who do, the average family donation is 2-3% per year. This program examines how people arrive at the amount of their charitable contributions, where the money is contributed to, and what holds donors back from giving more, especially if they could afford to without hardship. […]

After war, our veterans face a new battle: emotional and spiritual conflict that is normal to human beings who've experienced intense brutality.In the Civil War this condition was called “soldier's heart”, in WW1 it was known as “shell shock”, and today many veterans are diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). To see additional resources and […]

Chicago dramatist Meade Palidofsky uses theater as a therapeutic tool in her work with juvenile offenders who write and perform plays while incarcerated — and in the process see their lives through a new lens. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in […]

Facing a personal crisis, hospital patients and their loved ones often receive needed emotional support from a quiet army of chaplains, who are skilled at empathetic listening to people gripped by difficult and confusing emotions. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in […]

A veteran negotiator in world hot-spots including the Middle East, Louise Diamond practices a citizens-based diplomacy that sometimes finds cooperation at the grass roots level, even when governments are hostile. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Charlie Starbuck, an affable tax attorney, single-handedly has increased the “canopy” of San Francisco by planting more than 7,500 trees, as part of the movement known as Friends of the Urban Forest. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH […]

How does the widespread low level of literacy among American adults affect the functioning of our democracy? Are voters in this group vulnerable to political manipulation? To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

About half of American adults read at or below a 6th-grade level. What challenges do they face – at work, in health care, when helping children with schoolwork? And how does the profusion of low-information voters affect our democracy? To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR […]

This episode explores the very human level at which some nurses interact with patients at their most vulnerable moments. What spiritual questions about life and death arise in such encounters? We do nurses turn for their own support? And we look at the concept of “compassion fatigue” and ways nurses can maintain open-hearted care. To […]

In a health care setting, where serious illness may be on the line, what does it mean for a provider to listen attentively? We examine this core nursing practice in several venues. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH […]

Demanding and sometimes nerve-racking circumstances are a natural part of life and inevitably occur in the health care environment, where patients often arrive when they are in trouble. While it would be easy to get overwhelmed, skilled health care professionals have developed techniques for handling both everyday stresses and situations of unusual strain. To see […]

A no-holds-barred look at the stressful conditions in which many nurses work: the long hours, the emotional toll, the rapid pace, and the way that technology and institutional practices can make it hard to form a caring bond with patients. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on […]

We remember the late Anthony DeMello with the help of University of London Theologian Michael Barnes as well as recordings of the colorful DeMello during one of his many popular retreats. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Rather than merely write checks to charities they don't really know well, a group of concerned women formed a “giving circle” which identifies social needs and then seeks out worthy recipients. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

A Kansas therapist and author, John Heider, describes how his life has been profoundly affected by studying a renowned 2,500 year old wisdom text from China that teaches the art of inner balance. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with […]

Ida Wells published the first major study of lynching. A close associate of Frederick Douglass, she helped to found the NAACP and advocated the right to vote for women and black Americans. Her amazing life story is finally gaining recognition, nearly 90 years after her death. To see additional resources and our other programs, please […]

Born to enslaved parents, Ida B. Wells emerged as a powerful investigative journalist. She overcame death threats and published widely in her quest to document domestic terrorism against African Americans. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

After John Wood trekked through Nepal and saw under-educated children, he quit his job as a Microsoft executive and founded Room to Read, a nonprofit that went on to establish over 16,000 libraries aimed at spreading literacy in poorer nations. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on […]

As environmental visionaries see it, the future of energy is not in greenhouse gas-emitting fuels like oil and coal—whose supply is running out—but in sustainable, non-global warming sources like wind and sun and waves from the ocean and in the enormous storehouse of heat that naturally occurs deep underground. To see additional resources and our […]

Nearly half of criminals released from prison are arrested again within three years. Through that revolving door, they return to a correctional system that is often overcrowded and ridden with violence. Robin Casarjian, a counselor working in prisons, helps to transform houses of correction into houses of healing. She encourages inmates to identify with their […]

We learn how the Reconstruction amendments to the US Constitution, which briefly protected the rights of the freed people, were undone in the following years by the spread of Jim Crow segergation, as upheld by a conservative Supreme Court. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR […]

Are we still living with the racial divide left over from the Civil War? Has it resurfaced today in the rise of white nationalism, election denial and the surge of anti-immigrant sentiment? To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH […]

The remarkable survival story of Bob Massie, an Episcopal minister who somehow walked through one life-threatening illness after another, and whose many challenges deepened his appreciation for life—and for the suffering of others. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with […]

British religious historian and best-selling author Karen Armstrong explains why she thinks the West gets it wrong about Islam, and she discusses the Charter of Compassion campaign that she launched worldwide. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Having lost almost everything in the Madoff scam, best-selling author John Robbins tells how, in “an age of less,” he had to step back, reassess what's important and build a new, more fulfilling life. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association […]

How the daughter of two holocaust survivors ventured into formal dialogues with children of Nazi-era Germans and what they learned from each other in a new era. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

The stress of having a seriously ill loved one being treated in a hospital in a strange city is lessened by a compassionate army of volunteers in Boston who open their homes to provide lodging and a sympathetic ear. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR […]

The surprising power of imagining positive outcomes in life is explored by NY Times best-selling author David Allen who finds that when people vividly picture the solutions to problems, it can reset their nervous system and remove self-imposed obstacles. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR […]

We ride along in a van of “Crisis Responders”, who are sometimes deployed instead of police by Seattle's new CARE Dept. Also heard are the deputy police chief and the chief of the CARE Dept, a married couple at the center of public safety efforts there. And we learn about the history of a model […]

This is the intriguing story of how, in some venues, public safety is being expanded to include not just police and fire services but also social workers and other professionals. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

What happened to a group of 1st graders in Oakland, CA when a local realtor said she'd pay for their college education if they graduated from high school? To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Canada's highly popular healthcare system covers all citizens for a fraction of what Americans spend per person, but it also has some problems. We consider a “public option” for the United States. Experts heard: Toronto physician Danielle Martin and Yale professor Jacob Hacker. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials […]

A fascinating conversation with John Bogle, founder of Vanguard and one of the world's most famous investors, on what it means to have “enough”, both financially and spiritually. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Bay Area physician and Univ. of California medical professor Martin Rossman, author of “The Worry Solution”, describes ways to distinguish between what we can change and what we must learn to accept. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH […]

Making light of our stress-inducing, 24/7 society, author and humorist Loretta LaRoche brings her one-of-a-kind perspective on living an optimistic and resilient life that re-connects with what really matters. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Pultizer Prize-winning historian Gordon Wood discusses how the founders of America intended to thwart the ascendance of demagogues, who could provoke mobs, in the fledgling democracy they were building. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

This program explores one of the most basic questions facing our democracy: who may participate? To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

William Ury, the coauthor of “Getting to Yes,” a classic on negotiation, maintains that conflict is inevitable—and sometimes desirable—but that violent confrontation can be much more easily prevented than is commonly believed. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH […]

Although being teased and picked on are typical challenges for kids growing up, the effects can be traumatizing when a child is relentlessly bullied. The most common targets of bullying are young people who are perceived as gay, or who are disabled or overweight. But any kid who is singled out for harassment may feel […]

The coauthor of “Getting to Yes,” a classic on negotiation, maintains that conflict is inevitable—and sometimes desirable—but that violent confrontation can be much more easily prevented than is commonly believed. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

In the second half of this Humankind documentary, we listen to nurses in the Twin Cities who are drawn to their profession by compassion for patients. Providers reveal the difficulties of remaining emotionally “present” in a high-stress medical setting, and several patients tell what it's like to be treated unkindly or to feel undervalued. We […]

Patients often complain about rushed doctor visits and, of course, the cost of medical services. But a number of studies in recent years highlight a different concern: whether as a patient you actually experience kindness when receiving health care.

In this Humankind documentary, we examine that challenge, from the perspective of both health care professionals – […]

Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the renowned Stress Reduction Clinic at the Univ. of Massachusetts Medical School, discusses how the technique of “mindfulness” can be physically and mentally therapeutic. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

In a country as wealthy as the United States, “working poor” should be a contradiction in terms. But tens of millions of Americans fall into that category, affecting a growing population of children. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with […]

In this provocative profile of David Allen, we hear the sounds of communications technology coming at us, and later we stroll through the peaceful garden in Ojai, California where for him “time disappears.” We also hear how he brilliantly defines the widespread problem of “overwhelm” along with very practical solutions that can increase relaxation for […]

How can we deal with the modern sense of feeling overloaded? It is emerging as a broad social problem that takes its toll on both work and home life—and can impinge on our ability to function with personal clarity. Best-selling author David Allen discusses new ways we all can learn to focus—in an age of […]

Christal Presley, an English teacher in Virginia who experienced “secondary trauma” in response to the extreme behavior of her father, a Vietnam-era veteran with PTSD, tells how the family began a journey of recovery. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association […]

Because laughter is surely good medicine, we visit with professional comedians who are also cancer survivors, as well as a top surgeon at New York's renowned Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, to understand the role of humor and a positive attitude in surviving the disease. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind […]

A Harvard medical professor tells the story of how he united with a Soviet cardiologist to launch a physicians movement to end nuclear war that recruited 150,000 doctors worldwide and won the Nobel Peace Prize. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in […]

It's been said that we've learned how to speak but not necessarily how to communicate. Rarely are we taught the art of deep listening or how to respond to someone without accusation or blame or the ability to articulate our own needs without putting others on the defensive. To see additional resources and our other […]