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.

Professor Richard Dawkins, British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author-his latest is "The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True" joins Thom Hartmann for Conversations w/ Great Minds.

Award-winning journalist and author, Amy Goodman joins Thom Hartmann for "Conversations with Great Minds." Tonight she'll discuss her work as a journalist and how she sees Democracy changing in this country. She has been on the forefront of developing truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to light the alternative voices often excluded by the mainstream media. Amy's latest book is "Breaking the Sound Barrier" and explores the role and power of independent journalism in the struggle for a better world.

For tonight's "Conversation with Great Minds" - I am joined by award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and internationally best-selling author - Naomi Klein. Naomi Klein is a contributing editor for Harper's and reporter for Rolling Stone, and writes a regular column for The Nation and The Guardian that is also syndicated internationally. Her writing has appeared in dozens of other major newspapers - including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and The Los Angeles Times. In 2004, her reporting from Iraq for Harper's magazine earned her the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. She is a former Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics and holds an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws from the University of King's College in Canada. In 2007, her book, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" became a number one international best-seller. Her first book"No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies" was published in 1999 and was also an international bestsellerThe New York Times called it "a movement bible," Time Magazine named it as one of the Top 100 non-fiction books published since 1923, and the Literary Review of Canada has named it one of the hundred most important Canadian books ever published. Naomi talks to Thom Hartmann about Occupy Wall Street, the Keystone Pipeline and the economy.

Founder and producer of the Latino activist site, Cuentame.org (a Brave New Foundation Campaign), Axel Caballero joins me for our first half hour for Conversations with Great Minds. We'll discuss his mission on bringing awareness to Latino issues, to the unholy alliance between the prison industrial complex, the Republican Party, OWS, ALEC, and Herman Cain's immigrant "electric fence" so-called joke!

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom is joined by David Korten. David is an economist, author, and former Professor of the Harvard Business School. His political activism has made him a prominent critic of corporate globalization. His 2006 book "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community" argues that the development of empires about 5,000 years ago initiated unequal distribution of power and social benefits to a small portion of the population.

For tonight's Converation with Great Minds - I am joined by Dick Gregory to talk about Occupy Wall Street, his activist work on the death penalty for a white supremacist, the Keystone Pipeline and more. Dick Gregory is a comedian, social activist writer, and entrepreneur whose work has redefined how Americans perceive political comedy and African American comedians. He got his first big break when he was hired by Hugh Hefner to perform stand up at the Chicago Playboy Club in 1961 and he hasn't stopped since. He began political activism by running against Richard J. Daley for the mayor's office in Chicago in 1967 and followed that up with a write-in campaign for the Oval Office in 1968 as a candidate of the Freedom and Peace Party. He has devoted himself to many causes throughout his career as an activist - including civil rights, women's rights, anti-war campaigns, the international anti-apartheid movement and environmental protection issues. When Thom Hartmann ran a community for abused kids in New England in the early 1980s, he was on the advisory board, and did fundraisers for the Salem program, and he traveled with Thom to Uganda during the end of the war with Idi Amin to set up famine and medical relief programs. He has devoted his life to using his considerable talents and gifts to helping others. He now finds himself on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Standups of All Time and has his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.