Leigh Ann Henion was a young mother when she felt her world closing in. So she did something unconventional: she set off on a "wonder pilgrimage" to see some of the world's most astonishing natural phenomena. She tells us about juggling motherhood with swimming in bioluminescent oceans, standing at the edge of active volcanoes, and witnessing vast animal migrations.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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James Gleick's "The Information" is a sweeping history of information, going back to the invention of writing and the African tradition of talking drums. He tells Steve Paulson that the invention of information technologies has changed the very nature of consciousness.
Recent medical breakthroughs mean we can sometimes halt and even reverse death. This has led science into a domain traditionally relegated to theology and philosophy. Steve Paulson hosts a panel discussion on the difficult questions that come up during medical crises.
Conventional wisdom holds that the founding fathers were a group of esteemed gentlemen who peacefully united under a common cause. Historian Paul Aron tells a different story. In his book "Founding Feuds," Aron follows the bitter rivalries and intense conflicts in the early days of the republic. He says our nation's founders could be just as vicious and scathing as politicians today.
So-called "outsider art" has been hot for a while now. What the art crowd calls it has changed, from l'art brut to self-taught art to vernacular art.
Whatever you call it, the work of some these artists will join the cream of the contemporary art crop at the Venice Biennale this summer.
One of the largest collections of vernacular art is right here in Wisconsin. Producer Sara Nics talks with the woman who helped create the collection: Ruth Kohler.
James Bradley is the son of John Bradley, one of the six G.I.’s who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Bradley tells Jim Fleming about the battle, and why his father would never discuss his combat experiences.
Journalist Ian Johnson is the author of “Wild Grass: Three Portraits of Change in Modern China.” He talks with Anne Strainchamps about one of them.
J.J. Murphy talks about his book, "The Black Hole of the Camera: The Films of Andy Warhol."
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