Dick Russell and Host Michael Lerner

Dick is the eclectic author of 15 books. He recently published volume 2 of his biography of James Hillman: The Life and Ideas of James Hillman: Re-Visioning Psychology, with volume 3 coming up later in 2023. Also recently published is The Real RFK Jr.: Trials of a Truth Warrior. Other publications include four books co-authored with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura that spent weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller list. Eye of the Whale was named among the best books of 2001 by three major newspapers. The Man Who Knew Too Much, about a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy, was hailed as “a masterpiece of historical reconstruction” by Publisher’s Weekly. Striper Wars: An American Fish Story, recounts the fight to save the Atlantic striped bass. He is also the author of Black Genius and the American Experience (1998) and My Mysterious Son: A Life-Changing Passage Between Schizophrenia and Shamanism (2014).  As an environmental activist, Dick was a recipient of the citizen’s Chevron Conservation Award.

Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).