Wendy Burden is the author of "Dead End Gene Pool," a memoir of her childhood among wealthy but highly dysfunctional remnants of the Vanderbilt fortune.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
David Gessner discovered the American West as a young man, and the huge mountains and wide open spaces changed his life. He recently took a road trip through the West, following in the footsteps of two literary heroes, Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner. Gessner says their books help us see the West in all its complexity.
As a young man, Russell Razzaque was recruited by a militant Islamic student group. He left and today he's a psychologist and authority on suicide bombers.
So, is it society, nurture if you will, that creates the monsters among us or is it our nature? Enter the Fierce People - the indigenous Yanomamo Indians of the Amazon.
Will Birch talks to Doug Gordon about the musical movement in Britain that set the stage for punk rock.
Sticky Fingers is a tribute band whose members impersonate The Rolling Stones. Steven Kurutz spent a year with them and wrote about it in a book called "Like A Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of A Tribute Band."
Sarah Vowell is obsessed with presidential assassinations. She talks with Steve Paulson about the lingering mystery and drama surrounding the murder of Abraham Lincoln.
For writer and educator Parker Palmer, solitude is essential to recharging and gaining new perspective on life. He's just returned from a week-long retreat in the winter woods of Wisconsin, and stopped by our studio to talk about what what he gains from being alone.
Pages
