Alan Weisman, author Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth, the long awaited follow-up to his previous book "The World Without US" which also became a documentary for PBS' NOVA program.

In Conversations with Great Minds Thom Hartmann is speaking with award-winning American novelist Walter Mosley whose written 34 critically-acclaimed books. His most recent is titled: "Twelve Steps Toward Political Revelation"

In this week's Conversations with Great Minds Harriet A.Washington joins Thom. Her book Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself is an exposé of the medical industrial complex's rush to own and exploit the raw materials of human life - including your body tissue and DNA! Her book "Medical Apartheid" documents how people of color - particularly African Americans - have been subjected to everything from medical experimentation and vivisection to the denial of medical services from the days of slavery to today.

Susan P. Crawford, JD - Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age joins Thom Hartmann.

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - I'm joined by award-winning author Jeff Sharlet. His career in journalism, academia and publishing has distinguished him as a prolific voice on faith and spirituality in the United States. In 2000, Sharlet teamed up with novelist Peter Manseau to create KillingTheBuddha.com - which has since become an award-winning online literary magazine about religion and spirituality - and led to a year-long road trip across the United States where Sharlet investigated the various forms religion takes in this country. He has spoken at universities across the country, contributed to the country's leading magazines and newspapers - including Mother Jones, The Nation, The New Republic, The New Statesman, The Washington Post, Salon, and the Columbia Journalism Review - and is a familair presence on MSNBC, NPR, CNN, BBC and the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His newest book - "Sweet Heaven When I Die" explores the spiritual landscape of the United States and profiles religious radicals, realists and escapists who straddle that undefined border between belief and skepticism.

James Risen, Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless War joins Thom Hartmann. 13 years after 9/11 - the War on Terror has turned into a massive moneymaking scheme for America's oligarchs. How did this happen - and what can we do to change it?

Steve Coll, President-New America Foundation / Staff Writer-The New Yorker / Author of the new book, "Private Empire: Exxon Mobile and American Power" joins Thom Hartmann. Exxon Mobil is the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States - and yet - very little is actually known about how the company operates. How does this corporate giant really function - and how much control does it have over lawmakers in Washington? We'll pose those questions and more to Steve Coll in tonight's Conversations with Great Minds.