You call an 800 number for technical support, and you get a person in India. Thousands of workers at call centers in that country serve the customers of major transnational corporations. Radha Hegde describes what the new high-tech work environments in Bangalore, India are doing to gender relations, class distinctions, and cultural attitudes. Also, Martha Burk weighs in on anti-woman political rhetoric.

In this second installment of Ron Hassner's talk, the U.C. Berkeley political scientist addresses, among other things, the notion that religion has motivated most of the wars, or at least the bloodiest ones, throughout history. Also included is more from an interview with the politically inquisitive Lisa Kron.

Ron Hassner confronts the argument that religions are naturally conducive to peace. He emphasizes, among other things, the ambiguous and contradictory nature of religious texts and passages. Also, a new play by Lisa Kron points out blind spots in the political consciousness of many middle-class liberals.

In a sense, Christos Tsiolkas's new novel is a form of social commentary: about where Australia is now, what race and class dynamics there are like, and what's happened to bonds of family and community in the face of rampant materialism. And in the second of a two-part interview, Tadzio Mueller addresses the question of protest movement dialogue and strategizing.