My guest for tonight's Conversations with Great Minds is one of the world's leading political scientists. Currently the Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University - Robert D. Putnam, who has been called "the most influential academic in the world." He has advised three U.S. presidents - and has won a number of distinguished awards. Professor Putnam's 2000 book Bowling Alone is considered a classic of its kind - an was a national besteller. His new book - "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis" - is a fascinating and challenging look at our nation's deep crisis of opportunity.

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

If the rise of Donald turmp and Bernie Sanders is any indication - Americans are sick and tired of the establishment and the powers that be. So how can we break through those powers and make a better country for all? I'll ask legendary consumer right advocate and 5 time presidential candidate Ralph Nader in tonight's Conversations with Great Minds. Check out BreakingThroughPower.org.

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Thom Hartmann talks to film director and political activist, Robert Greenwald noted in the 2000s for his documentaries critical of Fox News, war and the health industry. "Sick for Profit" and "Rethink Afghanistan" are his two recent films.

For tonight's "Coversations with Great Minds" - Thom welcomes an authority on wealth inequality in America, Chuck Collins.He is the senir scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies here in Washington, DC - as well as the co-founder of "Business for Shared Posperity" - an organization that brings together business leaders to address wealth inequality in America and increased opportunites for everyone in our nation, He's worked with several of the welathiest people tliam Gates Sr. and Geroge Soros to advocate for taxing millionaires and billionaires. He's also co-authored several books including, "Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes" and "Robin Hood was Right." For questions about the effects of extreme wealth inequality in America - he's the guy to talk to

David Rothkopf, Author of the new book "Power, Inc.:The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government--and the Reckoning That Lies Ahead" joins Thom Hartmann. Striking a balance between private and public power is a major goal for society today - and correctly reaching it will help us prosper in the 21st century. So how do we achieve this balance?

Frederick Kaufman, Bet the Farm: How Food Stopped Being Food joins Thom Hartmann. What do the malnutrition and starvation epidemics in Africa have to do with a decision made by big bank Goldman Sachs in 1991?

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.