Tulsa's John Hope Franklin Center will soon present the 11th Annual Reconciliation in America National Symposium, from May 27th through June 2nd. Given the pandemic, the symposium this year will happen online, and it will carry the theme of "Reconciliation and Technology: Neutral Resources for Social Good." This theme, per the John Hope Franklin Center website, "unites us as change agents, researchers of effective practices, and peacemakers in the intentional journey of reconciliation.

Our guest is Walter Johnson, the Winthrop Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. His new book is a far-reaching, unflinching, and complicated account of race relations in his hometown: St. Louis, Missouri. From Lewis and Clark's 1804 expedition to the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, the course of American events, Johnson argues, has been charted in St. Louis. His book moreover shows how the imperialism, racism, and capitalism that have defined the city have likewise defined our nation's history.

Our guest is Eric Eyre, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter from the smallest newspaper ever to win that prize for investigative reporting. His new book, based on the work that won him that prize, details his investigation into the corporate greed that pumped millions of pain pills into small Appalachian towns at the outset of America's opioid crisis. "Death in Mud Lick" tells the riveting and shameful story of a pharmacy in Kermit, West Virginia, which distributed 12 million opioid pills in three years to a town of 382 people.

Our guest is Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, whose new book is a primer on world history -- specifically, world history as it's understood in our current global era. As the COVID-19 pandemic has made all too clear, we live in an age when things happening thousands of miles away can directly (and drastically) affect our own lives. As Haass explains on StudioTulsa, he wrote this book in order to help readers of all backgrounds make sense of this complicated, interconnected, crisis-laden world.

Could dogs be used -- at some point in the future -- to effectively "sniff out" COVID-19 among human beings infected with the virus? We don't know. But research is now being done in various labs to explore this question. On this edition of ST Medical Monday, we get an update from journalist Maria Goodavage, whose previous books include "Soldier Dogs: The Untold Story of America's Canine Heroes" and "Top Dog: The Story of Marine Hero Lucca." She actually spoke with us about six months ago, when her latest book was published.