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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Patti Smith revolutionized rock'n'roll in the Seventies by fusing poetry with rock music. Now, she's written a remarkable memoir about her emergence as an artist, and her friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. In this hour of To the Best of our Knowledge, we'll talk with Patti Smith...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Imagine that you grow up with dreams of fame and fortune.  You're going to become a world-famous rock star.  The only problem is your childhood friend becomes the world's biggest rock star instead.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Neil McCormick shares his story of being upstaged...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

You may recall the story of six young people who reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje.  Journalist Randall Sullivan talked to one of the visionaries and concluded she believes what she was reporting.  But where does that leave us?  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

From trance music to ecstatic dance, from Burning Man to psychedelic mushrooms, Americans are awash in weird and intense experiences - and maybe even inventing a new kind of religion. Is this just a bunch of New Age thrill-seekers getting off, or is something deeper going on?  We explore the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Imagine losing your lover, mother, stepfather and sister in less than eight months. That's what happened to country music singer/songwriter Carlene Carter. Her mother is June Carter Cash and her stepfather is Johnny Cash. Carlene Carter drew on all of this loss and tragedy to create a new album...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Andre Agassi says he always hated tennis, even though it's what made him rich and famous. But maybe that's not surprising, considering how his father used to browbeat him into hitting 2500 balls a day when he was seven years old, and later sent him off to a tennis academy, which Agassi calls a "...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It will go down as one of the most amazing archeological discoveries in history. Homo naledi - a new species of human-like fossils found in South Africa - is already rewriting the story of human evolution. These 15 skeletons are the largest cache of pre-human bones ever found. But so far,...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Canal Street flooded with so much water it looks like an actual canal.  People mourning the loss of their homes and loved ones.  The Gulf Coast will never be the same after the devastation that Hurricane Katrina has caused.  In this hour of the Peabody-Award-Winning program To the Best of Our...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

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

Any day now, the United States will welcome the three hundred millionth American. He or she may be a new born baby, or someone who comes across the border – legally or illegally.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll look at America’s changing demographics, and consider the price...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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Jonathan Kaplan is a field doctor who travels to war zones around the world.  He treats people who’ve been shot or maimed.  Many of his patients die on the operating table.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge what war looks like from the inside.  Also singer/songwriter Steve Earle...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

Democracy is one of those rubbery words. We kind of know what it means. But do we really? It’s voting and elections, but it’s much, much more than that. Democracy has inspired The Velvet Revolution and the Arab Spring.  It encouraged the Suffragists and the Civil Rights Movement. It stirred the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

“Lets Make Our Own Movie!”  That was a wild idea back in the days of young Mickey Rooney, but today, anyone can do it.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, how digital cameras make us all directors, and why movies may never be the same.  Also, screenwriter Andrew Davies...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Japan has a “slow life” movement.  Italy has a “slow cities” movement.  Spain has a network of siesta salons.  And Americans?  10 to 15 million of us now meditate or do yoga.  Is it possible the world is finally ready to slow down?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge a look at the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Consider this future world: a vaccine that makes you continually happy.  A chip in your brain that lets you communicate telepathically with your spouse.  Human lives that span hundreds of years.  Sound far-fetched?  Not according the James Hughes of the World Trans-humanist Association.  He says...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Sinatra swings it, Miles Davis jazzes it up, and Billy Holiday croons it from the heart.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the biography of a great American love song.  In our second annual Valentine’s Day Show the Rogers and Hart hit “My Funny Valentine.”  And our listeners share true...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Pragmatic.Problem-solving. And non-partisan -- Mayors just might be the next best hope for democracy.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

You're driving along a dark road when you're distracted by what appears to be a flight of arrows. You crash into a ravine and suffer horrible burns over most of your body. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll talk to Andrew Davidson about his debut novel "The Gargoyle." It's been...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Future Perfect: Dreamers, Schemers & Visionaries

Part One

 

Imagine a poor child in Uruguay. Now imagine giving that young girl a hundred-dollar laptop computer. Imagine the educational opportunities that this laptop will provide...Read more

shapes

Sometimes it's better to forget than to remember. Maybe it's an embarrassing photo on Facebook. Or perhaps a collective memory that's been used by certain ethnic groups to stir up hatred of their enemies. We explore the science, history and philosophy of memory. Plus, filmmaker Whit Stillman on...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Big box education is on the way out. Instead, imagine a future with schools of every variety available for mixing and matching, like sushi on a platter. Micro-schools, Waldorf Schools, part-time schools and more. That's the future as seen by Matt Hern, an advocate for what he calls de-...Read more

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