Why is violence such a feature of police work?  Kristian Williams is the author of two books on this topic, including Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America.  Williams examines the populations most often subjected to police abuse and the forms that abuse takes, delving into the role of police brutality in repressing political dissent and in preserving existing structures of inequality.  Here he talks with the Old Mole's Bill Resnick.  On next week's Old Mole (Jan. 4), the conversation will continue, focusing on what police work would be like in a better world.  

 Dianne Feeley is a retired auto worker who writes about the industry and the United Auto Workers Union. She talks with Denise Morris about the future of the industry and the situation of the workers today.  You can read an essay of hers here.  

Brooke Jacobson comments on the current film about a high-flying guy who fires people for a living.  Some of the actors are real people recently laid off.  

 Denise Morris hosts this show which features discussions of police brutality, the auto industry, Jeffrey Eugenides novel Middlesex, and the movie "Up In the Air."  

 Our book mole Larry Bowlden takes up Jeffrey Eugenides's Pulitzer Prize novel Middlesex.  It is about gender ambiguity, immigration, working in the auto industry in Detroit, and family history.  You can read more of Larry's reviews here.