Juan Cole, author of "Engaging the Muslim World," tells Steve Paulson that Barack Obama has good reasons to reach out to Iran.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Karen Armstrong is one of the world's best-known writers on religion, but her own spiritual path hasn't been easy. She tells us why she joined a convent and then left - and how she later came to appreciate religious texts.
Meg Gaines is an attorney who was diagnosed in 1994 with terminal, inoperable ovarian cancer. She is now cancer free.
Jay Parini is a poet, novelist and teacher. He's also the author of "Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America." He tells Jim Fleming that his is not a list of "great books" but rather books that significantly changed the literary climate of American culture.
Poet and writer Kenneth Goldsmith talks about his "Uncreative Writing" course in which students are penalized for showing any originality and creativity. Goldsmith is the author of "Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in the Digital Age."
David Harrison travels to some of the most remote places in the world, documenting endangered languages. He tells us about the language warriors: the last speakers of ancestral languages. Many of them are trying to preserve and revive their native tongues.
Naomi Klein discusses how countries impose "disaster capitalism" on countries to get otherwise unpopular policies accepted.
Lorrie Moore has a new collection of short stories. She tells Steve Paulson that life is filled with absurdity; ghost stories are great fodder for fiction; and North America now owns the short story.
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