Robert and Ellen Kaplan wrote “The Art of the Infinite.” They talk about it with Jim Fleming.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Michael Dirda won the Pulitzer Prize for his literary criticism in the Washington Post Book World. Among his collections of essays is Classics for Pleasure.
Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence? You'll find it's a surprisingly radical manifesto even today, as we struggle with income inequality and racial justice. Political philosopher Danielle Allen says reading the Declaration has actually changed the lives of her students.
Rachel DeWoskin is a young American who was working in Beijing and became a TV star as the American vixen in "Foreign Babes in Beijing."
Richard Manning is the author of many books including “Food’s Frontier: The Next Green Revolution.” Among the scientists profiled in that book is Robert Goodman, a plant pathologist at the University of Wisconsin.
Harriet Tubman will soon be gracing our twenty dollar bill. Most of us know only one image of her. It's an iconic image taken later in her life in which her hair's covered in a dark cloth and she has a stern expression. But there are other images of Harriet Tubman as well, including a wood cut of her carrying a musket.
Law professor Nicholas Johnson says the image of Harriet Tubman carrying a rifle doesn’t fit with how most Americans view abolitionists and civil rights leaders. After all, weren’t they supposed to be peaceful? But as Johnson tells Steve Paulson, there's a rich tradition of Black Americans owning guns for self-defense.
Shocking acts of violence are committed in the name of religion, but Karen Armstrong says we're too quick to blame faith for violence and intolerance around the world.
Since Michael Brown was shot, there's a new round of calls for a national conversation about racism. Is that realistic? Are we ready for what we might hear? A couple of years ago, NPR's Michele Norris told us about how a family secret sparked difficult conversations.
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