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The Stakes

WNYC Studios

The Stakes is a show about social change, hosted by Kai Wright. We live in extreme times—a climate on the verge of crisis, an economy built on inequality and a political system that feels like it’s falling apart. So, how’d we get to this point? And what happens next? From democracy to healthcare, from pop culture to the environment, our reporters are working to understand why we live the way we do—and why it matters. Because if we can better understand the society we‘ve got, maybe we can figure out how to create one that works for more people. The Stakes is produced by WNYC Studios, home of other great podcasts including Radiolab, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media, Nancy and Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin. read less
Society & CultureSociety & Culture

Episodes

A History of Persuasion: Part 2
Aug 8 2019
A History of Persuasion: Part 2
Ted Kaczynski had been a boy genius. Then he became the Unabomber. After years of searching for him, the FBI finally caught him in his remote Montana cabin, along with thousands of pages of his writing. Those pages revealed Kaczynski's hatred towards a field of psychology called "behaviorism," the key to the link between him and James McConnell. This is part two of our three-part series. If you haven't heard part one, listen here first. In this episode, we hear from: - Philip Bradley, Harvard contemporary of Ted Kaczynski - Alston Chase, author of A Mind for Murder: The Education of the Unabomber and the Origins of Modern Terrorism - Donald Max Noel, former FBI agent and author of UNABOMBER: How the FBI Broke Its Own Rules to Capture the Terrorist Ted Kaczynski - Chuck Seigerman, former student of James McConnell - Greg Stejskal, former FBI agent - Larry Stern, Professor of Sociology at Collin College Hosted by Kai Wright. Reported by Amanda Aronczyk. WNYC’s health coverage and The Stakes is supported in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Jane and Gerald Katcher and the Katcher Family Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Thank you to Lizette Royer Barton at the Center for the History of Psychology and Diana Bachman at the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. Special thanks to Larry Stern, Professor of Sociology at Collin College and to Alexandra Rutherford, Professor in the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto and author of Beyond the Box: B.F. Skinner's Technology of Behaviour from Laboratory to Life, 1950s-1970s.