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Gary Olson, Emeritus Professor of Political Science

Olson

Gary Olson

Emeritus Professor of Political Science

Education

B.A., Concordia College
M.A., University of South Dakota
Ph.D., University of Colorado

Postdoctoral National Endowment For The Humanities Fellowships:

University Of California, Berkeley
University Of Pittsburgh
UNC At Chapel Hill
UCLA

Contact

Email: olsong@moravian.edu
 

Areas of Research and/or Expertise

International political economy, labor politics, U.S. foreign policy in the Third World.

Biography

Dr. Olson's books include U.S. Foreign Policy and the Third World Peasant (1974), The Other Europe (1977), How the World Works (1981) and Empathy Imperiled: Capitalism, Culture and the Brain (2013). In 1977, Dr. Olson was awarded a Fulbright to Finland; in 1990, he received a Fulbright to Egypt and Jordan, and he received another in 1995 to Mexico. He was also awarded the Malone Fellow to Syria and Kuwait in 1993. He is a recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Recent Commentaries

  • Profiting From Climate Change
  • Irreconcilable Differences: Capitalism And A Sustainable Planet
  • Empathy And Neuropolitics: This Is Your Brain On Neoliberal Culture. Any Questions?
  • Frans De Waal's Age Of Empathy: A Review And Critique
  • Empathy Marketing 101
  • Remarks Delivered At The "Freedom For Gaza" Rally At 9th & Hamilton In Allentown On 1/10/09
  • We Empathize, Therefore We Are: Toward A Moral Neuropolitics
  • Movie Can Clarify Vision Of Rebel Che Guevera
  • Hard-Wired For Moral Politics: Neuroscience And Empathy
  • The Very Rich Are Different From You And Me F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Whither Diversity?
  • Hold Those Responsible For Iraq Accountable
  • Alternative Media Can Balance Establishment's Experts
  • Nationalism, Not Islam, Motivates Most Suicide Terrorists
  • Palestinian Diaspora Is Cause Of Conflict
  • Graduates Face Choice Between Love Or 'Selling Out'
  • Radical Teaching
  • Scapegoating Human Nature
  • Music, Meetings And Markets

Satire Pieces (Pseudonym I.M. Salmon)

Political Engagement

  • Znet

Foreign Study, Teaching and Travel

1977 Finland (Senior Fulbright Lecturer at University of Turku)
1978 Germany and Czechoslovakia 
1979 Cuba (Co-led a study group from É«ÖÐÉ« and Lafayette)
1980 USSR (American Professors Study Tour)
1980 England/France
1981 Occupied Territories (Gaza and West Bank), Lebanon and Israel
1983 El Salvador and Honduras (Peace and Social Justice delegation)
1985 USSR (Accompanied  É«ÖÐÉ« students on study tour)
1990 Japan (Study trip for U.S. Educators)
1991 Norway, Sweden & Denmark
1992 Syria and Jordan (Malone Fellow)
1993 Kuwait & Egypt (Studied Arabic at American University in Cairo)
1995 Mexico (Fulbright award to study NAFTA)
2003 Spain
2007 Portugal
2009 Turkey
2012 Greece
2014 Italy

Important musical influences in my life

  • Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
  • Joni Mitchell Blue
  • Miles Davis Kind of Blue and In A Silent Way
  • John Coltrane A Love Supreme
  • Neil Young Harvest and Harvest Moon
  • The Grateful Dead American Beauty
  • The Beatles Abbey Road
  • Roxy Music Avalon
  • Van Morrison Astral Weeks
  • Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon
  • Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions
  • Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
  • Neil Young After the Gold Rush
  • Carole King Tapestry
  • The Band The Band 

Gary's new book,
EMPATHY IMPERILED

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Book review by Scott Preston

Book review by Kris Franklin

Book review by Rachel O'Donnell:
Review of Empathy Imperiled

Book review by Paul Street:

Book review by Elliot Rose:

 

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Zinn (2) and Jackson (3)

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Grandson Zinn with parents Alix and Jaime.

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Zinn and Jackson

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Grandpa, Zinn and Jackson watching Chomsky for Toddlers on YouTube ... or was it the Alphabet Train Song video?

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Daughters Liz and Alix with sons Jackson and Zinn, strolling down Church Street.

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EMPATHY IMPERILED receives praise from higher authority

News: Dateline VATICAN CITY (January 12, 2014) 
"A tip of the zucchetto to Prof. Olson! By papal decree, Empathy Imperiled is now compulsory reading at the Holy See."

- Pope Francis


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Gary at Occupy Wall Street, October 3, 2011.

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Gary Olson at Occupy Bethlehem in Payrow Plaza (Church & New Streets)