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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

How do you soak in the essence of a city?  In New York, writer Colson Whitehead goes walking ... through Times Square, along Broadway, down into the subway.  In Memphis, critic Robert Gordon listens to its music - the blues, soul, rock-n-roll.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll...Read more

a house

The American middle class used to be living proof that the American dream was alive and well, providing homes and modest savings to anyone willing to work.  It’s another story today.  In this hour, the decline of the middle class.  How rising levels of income inequality shattered...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Spiderman had a pretty good summer last year, but J.K. Rowling wasn’t worried.  When the sixth Harry Potter book came out, children trampled the web-slinger in their rush to bookstores and libraries.  Which makes perfect sense to author and Arthurian scholar Jane Yolen.  She says it’s all about...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The legendary movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn once said, you should never predict anything, especially the future.  But it’s human nature to go to extremes for a sneak peak of what lies around the corner.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an astrophysicist sheds some light on...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Lynne Truss created a sensation in Britain with a book whose title is a punch line: it’s a punctuation joke that says a panda is a black and white mammal and it “Eats, Shoots and Leaves.”  Rules for punctuation and a good life, in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Simon Winchester tells the remarkable story of Krakatoa.  The volcanic eruption spewed chunks of land 25 miles into the air.  The blast was heard three thousand miles away.  And it kicked up monstrous tidal waves that killed nearly forty  thousand...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Outsiders used to be the outcasts, misfits, and under-employed. Today, they're indie, alternative and ahead of their time. Outsiders are thriving and they're changing the way we think about what is mainstream and what is alternative. You might even say that outsiders are the new insiders.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

An early spring thaw is good news if you live in a snow belt state. But it's not just the snow mound at the bottom of the driveway that's melting right now – the polar ice caps are melting too. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, stories from the lands of snow and ice. What do we...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Child rape at Penn State. A murderous rampage in Norway.  A new civil war in Sudan. Ruthless drug cartels. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Hate Crimes. Murder. Genocide. What is wrong with us? Are we really that bad?Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Life resembles a novel more often than novels resemble life." -- George SandRead more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

You know who they are – the cool kids – those above-it-all taste-makers whose fashion and entertainment choices predict what everyone else will be wearing and doing next year.  What’s their secret?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge exploring cool.  A frustrated surfer remembers...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Thirty years ago, the Iranian Revolution rocked the Middle East and upended the country's cozy relationship with America. We'll take stock of Iran three decades later as we examine the country and it's culture through music, film and politics. Also Salman Rushdie reflects back on "The Satanic...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The thrill of victory… the agony of defeat.  And the human drama of athletic competition.  We love sports. And every 4 years we get the pleasure to watch amateur athletes, at the top of their game, compete in the Olympics.  And that got us thinking about competition.  Because that’s what it’s...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Classical musicians don't come with better pedigrees than violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. She's been wowing audiences since she was four, performs all over the world and has commissioned many new works. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Meyers talks about why she chose to record popular...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

A car accident at twenty-one left John Callahan paralyzed.  He’s become a very successful cartoonist -- poking fun at disabilities and the idiosyncrasies of life.    His work has been described as “rude, shocking, tasteless, and depraved” – by his fans.  Next time on To...Read more

film junkies stare at screens

It’s Oscar season and Hollywood is once again celebrating the best films of the year. It would seem that we're a nation obsessed with movies. As a country, we spend billions of dollars to watch them every year, and celebrate them with a variety of awards ceremonies. But what separates a...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Outlet malls are America's number-one travel destination. They get more visitors every year than Times Square, Disney World and the Grand Canyon combined. We definitely have a lust for low prices. But this discount culture comes with a high cost. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Welcome to the next generation of African writers.  They’re young, multi-lingual, and breaking out of all the old literary boxes.  This hour, why Africa has one of the most exciting literary scenes on the planet.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Busloads of Senior Citizens roll onto the Reservation for high stakes bingo.  Lottery tickets show up on people’s shopping lists in 47 states.  Practically every office has a pool on the NFL or the Final Four or the outcome of the latest reality television series.  In this hour of To the Best of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

As Hillary Rodham Clinton prepares to give the most important speech of her life, listen back to the speech that marked her entrance into public political life, now available for the first time in its entirety. On May 31st, 1969, Hillary Rodham became the first student to give a commencement...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we ask a blunt question: Did we win? We're not the only ones asking. The phrase "did we win the war in Iraq" has been searched over 7 million times on Google. The war has cost an estimated 860...Read more

a cup filled with change

Nearly 20 million households in America are one paycheck away from losing their homes. For many of these families, keeping a roof over their head means having to choose between the rent or dinner that evening. This hour, we explore how housing insecurity drives poverty in America.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

They can have sex twenty times a day.  Their teeth are harder than steel.  And the ones that live in the city are twice as big as their country cousins.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk rats with Robert Sullivan, who spent a year investigating rats in a New York City...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Electrons to Enlightenment

Part One

 

Do science and religion have to be at war with each other? Francis Collins doesn't think so. The head of the Human Genome Project, is also an evangelical Christian. But biologist and atheist...Read more

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