Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes author Andrew Scott Cooper to discuss his new book "The Oil Kings." Focusing on the geopolitics of the Middle East in the 1970's, the study centers on the complex relationship between Nixon, Kissinger and the Shah of Iran. Relying on recently declassified documents, Cooper describes the international environment of the period and the implications of the Nixon doctrine for the Shah's foreign policy. Revealing the contradiction between the Shah's dependence on the rise of oil prices and the need to fund his new military role, Cooper explains how this contradiction resulted in the Shah's downfall and the implosion of Iran. He demonstrates the interplay between the collapse of the relationship between Iran and the U.S. and the emergence of Saudi Arabia as the guarantor of price and supply in the oil market and America's most important ally in the Persian Gulf.

Authors and UC San Diego political scientists Steve Erie and Vlad Kogan present a compelling narrative on how San Diego leaders have consistently mismanaged city finances since the 1978 passage of Prop 13. They continue with a bleak assessment on whether the city will ever be able to provide sufficient, equitable services throughout its economically diverse neighborhoods.

Rogers M. Smith, Political Science University of Pennsylvania, explores what many founders called the the "American Experiment" in government embodied in the U.S. Constitution: a democratic republic, without a national church, devoted to fostering commerce, scientific progress and realizing the national motto, "E Pluribus Unum." Two and a third centuries later, whether America's constitutional democracy can form a more perfect union out of its ever-growing economic, religious, and racial and ethnic diversity is again the central test of the "American Experiment."

A champion of women's empowerment around the world, Leymah Gbowee is an African peace activist often credited with aiding the cessation of the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003 through her extraordinary women-led peace movement. Currently the Executive Director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa, Gbowee's work was the subject of the 2008 award-winning documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which has been used as a tool to mobilize African women to petition for peace and security. In October 2007, the Women's Leadership Board at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government honored Ms. Gbowee with the Blue Ribbon Peace Award for her significant contribution to peace-building. Two days after this talk was recorded, Gbowee became the co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

Tate Hurvitz of Grossmont College presents startling data on the ignorance of many American adults about basic science and argues for increasing science literacy by teaching better strategies for understanding challenging information, assessing credibility of sources and incorporating new ideas. Hurvitz's lecture is part of the Henrietta Lacks series sponsored by the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology.