American leaders say the fight against Osama bin Laden is not a religious war, but are they right? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the deep divide between fundamentalists and the secular world. Also, a look at true believers in America - from the Holy Rollers of...Read more
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In the early 1950's two-year-old Jacqueline Henley in New Orleans became darker. After the neighbors complained, her aunt turned her over to New Orleans authorities. A black couple wanted to adopt Jacqueline but -- she had the word “white” stamped on her birth certificate. Next time on To...Read more
Vaclav Havel is President of the Czech Republic, but for many around the world, he's known as the poet in blue jeans, the dissident playwright who inspired a Velvet Revolution. On this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, President Havel talks art and politics. And, we'll go back to when the...Read more
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
Toby Young thought he had it made. He had a prestigious job at Vanity Fair magazine, a press pass that got him in everywhere, and a suave British accent to boot. He was poised to take Manhattan. Then everything went wrong. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, flops, failures and...Read more
Imagine living your whole life in excruciating pain, 24/7, and actually choosing to go without any pain medication. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, one man’s permanent pain. And is a teenager slashing her arms with a razor a cry for help or an ancient ritual of sacred pain? Also,...Read more
Most movie stars will do anything to stay in the limelight. But Debra Winger didn’t care. Six years ago, she walked out of Hollywood. She even taped her retirement card above her mirror so she’d see it every day. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, Debra Winger talks about the...Read more
For decades, men have written about their first sexual experiences, but there’s almost no literature like that for women. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, memoirist Mary Karr reflects on her first kiss and other rites of passage for girls. Also, Jonathan Kozol describes...Read more
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
With the help of a smartphone app, you can now order dinner, hire a driver, or even schedule a housecleaner. Whatever it is you need, there's probably an app for that. But does all this convenience come at a cost? This hour, the rise of the on-demand economy, and how it's changing the nature of...Read more
Have you ever heard of an “Uncreative Writing” course? In this class, students are penalized for showing any kind of originality. Instead, they’re rewarded for plagiarism, plundering and stealing. We’ll meet the man behind “Uncreative Writing” – poet Kenneth Goldsmith. Also,...Read more
To Daniel Libeskind, buildings are much more than concrete boxes. They’re expressions of hope, joy, freedom, and memory. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, architect Daniel Libeskind talks about his master design for the World Trade Center site.Read more
Walk into the children's section of any bookstore and the magic wands and secret portals almost materialize in front of you. Wizards, witches, demons, time travel, dragons, orphans, orphaned dragons – doesn't anyone know how to write a non-magical book anymore?! In this hour of To the Best of...Read more
Cross-dressing terrorist angels. LA Gangbangers covered in Virgin Mary tattoos to protect them from bullets. Prophets in g-strings and pasties. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge we’re going to look for god in some unlikely places - in the middle of a math equation, and in the lyrics...Read more
Every year, Americans spend billions of dollars to try to improve themselves. They buy books and CDs, go to seminars...some even walk over hot coals in their bare feet. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll try to find out if the self-help movement is really helping us.Read more
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
Chefs and writers explore the language of food on the plate and on the page. We meet novelists who cook, chefs who write, and a poet of pies. It's an hour of deliciousness in words and food.Read more
When Rae Armantrout recently won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry the first thing she said was curious. Read them out loud, she said.
In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, poetry out loud. Rae Armantrout reads her poems, Natalie Merchant sings our favorite classic poems, and Bobby...Read more
Well we made it through the anticipated apocalypse.
Now, to say, "Goodbye old year; hello, new."
To help us begin again, we’ve got a collection of stories about putting challenges behind us. About transformation. About coming through hard times into...Read more
Have you ever thought about money? Now, of course you have. Talking about money permeates our existence. But what if there wasn’t any money? What would you do?
One of this year's big novels is Colson Whitehead's sweeping historical novel, "The Underground Railroad." It's an unflinching look at the experience of slavery, inspired by the classic slave narratives. And being a sci-fi geek, Whitehead also weaves in bits of fantasy, creating an alternative...Read more
Do you ever have the strange feeling that you've heard this promo before? Well, in this case, it's only fitting because we're going to explore deja vu on the next edition of To the Best of Our Knowledge. We'll try to find out what causes us to think we've already experienced the exact same...Read more
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