The well-regarded historian Niall Ferguson is our guest; his many books include "Civilization," "The Great Degeneration," and "The Ascent of Money." He joins us to discuss his newest book, "Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe," which seems especially timely in the wake of the annus horribilis that was 2020. Ferguson's book sets out to show why human beings are getting worse, not better, at handling disasters -- despite advancements in medicine, science, technology, etc.

On this edition of ST, we're pleased to speak with Marlin Lavanhar, a Unitarian Universalist minister who's been based at All Souls Church here in Tulsa since 2000. A longtime social justice activist and tireless human rights advocate, Lavanhar recently launched a series of editorial cartoons focused on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre -- and on the urgent need for reparations to be conveyed to those directly affected by this vast, tragic, century-old crime.

Our guest is Steven Johnson, the bestselling author whose previous books include "Where Good Ideas Come From" and "The Ghost Map." He joins us to talk about his newest book, "Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer," which is also currently appearing as a TV documentary series on PBS. "Extra Life" is a book that offers, per Kirkus Reviews, "a surprising look at why humans are living longer.... Entertaining, wide-ranging, and -- in light of Covid-19 -- particularly timely."

Our guest is Suzanne Koven, a primary care physician and the inaugural writer-in-residence at Massachusetts General Hospital; she is also a member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Koven joins us to discuss her new memoir, "Letter to a Young Female Physician." It's a work that, as the writer Andrew Solomon has noted, "charts both the real and the spurious demands that the medical system makes on those who become doctors and care for us all. [Koven's] memoir is by turns reassuring and disturbing, comical and tragic, hopeful and dire.

Our guest on ST is Anna America, the Chief of Culture and Recreation & Parks Director for the City of Tulsa. The Tulsa Parks Department recently presented findings from a series of public-opinion surveys it's conducted over the past several months regarding its master plan. The consulting firm known as GreenPlay was employed in the execution of these surveys, as America tells us. She adds that more than half of those surveyed said that they'd "probably or definitely support" various potential funding sources for increasing the Parks Department's budget.