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With Oscar Hijuelos (Author)

With Vamik D. Volkan (Author and professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine)

With Irvin Yalom (Author, Psychotherapist and Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University)

Guest: Donald Johanson.

The oldest hominid skeleton discovered to date, nicknamed "Lucy" by paleontologists, was discovered by paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson in 1973. He joins Focus today to talk about his book Lucy's Child, in which he details his work in the field at the time of the excavation, the controversies surrounding the discovery, and how the spectacular find may contribute to further knowledge of human origins.

Guest: Ronald Takaki.

Today on Focus, we're joined by University of California—Berkeley professor Ronald Takaki to discuss his new book Strangers from a Different Shore. Takaki explores the history of Asian Americans from the Midwest to Hawaii and how they were—and, in many ways, still are—oppressed by other Americans.