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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

While the debate about how to fix America’s schools rages on, millions of parents have their own solution – opting out of the system.  Homeschoolers in America usually make the choice for two reasons – to invest more religion in the curriculum or to embrace the vales of progressive education. ...Read more

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader speaking at a campaign event in Waterbury, CT

Selling out: we talk with two people who’ve vowed never to sell out: Ralph Nader, and Congressman Joe Walsh. Walsh says the Tea Party must be the party of no compromise. Also, someone often accused of selling out: Shepard Fairey; he went from making street art to designing an iconic Obama poster...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Suppose you drop a family photograph on the subway, is it still yours?  Not if Brian Dunn finds it.  He collects lost photos and makes them his own.  I’m Jim Fleming.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge “Who owns what?”  If there are copyrights are there copy “...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge, Susan Sontag reflects on how photographs help us experience other people’s pain. And, as the country faces war, we’ll hear stories about our great patriotic songs, and find some comfort in the ancient Sufi poet, Rumi.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

”My solid pigeon, that drape is a killer-diller, an E-flat Dillinger, a bit of a fly thing all on one page.”  Any idea what that means?  It’s hipster slang for “My, that’s a nice dress you’re wearing.”  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge the roots of hipster slang – old movies, pulp...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Television used to be formulaic. Today, it’s the best gig around. We examine the explosion of high quality TV, from The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men, and talk with the creator of HBO’s True Detective.Read more

mosque ceiling

For millions of people, a mosque is a safe haven, a place to worship. But others fear that mosques are a breeding ground for terrorists — especially since September 11, 2001. It's the same building, but has become a marker for so much controversy.

This hour, we wanted to approach the...Read more

woman on a mountain

We’re all a little bit wild inside, but how often do we let it out? If you've been spending too much time indoors in front of a screen, maybe it's time for a dose of the real thing.  This week,stories of people who found strength, wonder and joy by heading into the wild.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It seems everyone has something to say about motherhood.  A lot of people have advice.  Others just have... issues.   In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge -- the tricky topic of motherhood.   Linda Gray Sexton remembers her mother, the troubled poet Anne...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Malcolm Gladwell knows how to succeed in show business without really trying -- write a story for The New Yorker about a psychiatrist who studies serial killers. Then a playwright will take some of the words from your article and use them in a Broadway play. Next time on To the Best of Our...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What would a secular society really look like?  We take an unconventional look at religion, the fiction it inspires, and reflect on why William James' classic book on mysticism, "The Varieties of Religious Experience," still matters.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What are the great country music singles?  Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” probably.  George Jones’ “slobbing tearjerker,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”  What about the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women”? and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay?  According to the book “Heartaches by the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Ever dream of finding buried treasure?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, real-life treasure hunters like the two small-time prospectors who risked their lives in the Canadian tundra, and found one of the world’s biggest diamond mines.  Also, hunting for dinosaur bones in the Gobi...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What’s the best way to get someone to talk?  NPR’s Terry Gross has done more interviewers than just about anyone else in public radio.  But she prefers to talk to them long distance, with no eye contact.   In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Terry Gross on the art of the interview.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What goes on inside the mind of a painter, or a musician, or a poet?  What sparks creativity?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, new neuroscience takes us inside the creative mind.  We’ll talk about brain imaging studies of jazz musicians, and cosmologist Brian Swimme explores the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

As America endures the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the hardships our grandparents and great grandparents lived through are suddenly relevant again. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, stories from the Great Depression – advice from the generation that survived...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

For years poet and novelist Alice Walker told her friends she’d probably never write again.  But the events of September 11 changed all that.  And the poetry flowed.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Alice Walker on the role of the poet in a time of war.  Also, Iraqi poetry today. ...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Is there anything science won’t tackle? The latest question neuroscientists are taking on is, “What makes something beautiful?” We're checking in with the scientists, the philosophers and the artists in this hour.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Take a stroll through a natural history museum these days and you’ll not only see dinosaurs, you’ll smell them.  Get a whiff of T-rex’s halitosis, his dinner leftovers, and, well, how should I put this – his droppings, too! In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, museums that tickle your...Read more

a man with prosthetic limbs

A fashion model with prosthetic legs… a musician who can’t hear… a writer who can’t see. Instead of disabled, differently-abled, handicapped – why not better-abled?Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

These days it seems we just can’t get enough of it.  Over the past few years, luxury spending in the United States has been growing four times faster than overall spending.  We’re spending more money on more products and services that we don’t really need – like Evian bottled water and Prada...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Nerds are an easy target for humor in movies and on TV... with their thick black glasses, hopelessly out-of-fashion clothes, and over-enunciated diction. But there's a dark side to nerds. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll find out how the nerd stereotype is harming our children...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Do you ever have a right to kill?  What about Israeli agents who assassinate Hamas leaders?  Or suicide bombers who blow up their enemies?  Do the ends justify the means?  William Vollman has written a three-thousand page treatise on the morality of violence.  In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Everybody needs a little help, and some of us need a lot.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll meet some helpers - and they’re not all human.  We’ll visit a stable where they do equine assisted therapy, and we’ll hear from a writer who’s a volunteer fireman in his small hometown...Read more

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