Journalist William Claassen calls himself a nomadic pilgrim. He spent many years traveling to cloistered communities from various religious traditions around the world.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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As the daughter of a child psychologist, writer Jessica Lamb-Shapiro grew weary of the simple solutions offered by popular self-help books. So maybe it was only natural that she wanted to understand why people liked them so much. To find out, she read hundreds of books and articles, journeyed to conferences headed by self-improvement icons, and even conquered her fear of flying along the way.
The saddest music of all to many people is Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”
Historian Simon Schama tells Steve Paulson that Rembrandt thought art should tell the truth and that he was an enormously innovative painter.
Stephen Prothero thinks it's imperative that Americans have a working knowledge of religious traditions at home and abroad to understand other peoples and our own politicians.
Historian Tariq Ali tells Steve Paulson that the current Indian government is dominated by Hindu fundamentalists.
Legendary showman P.T. Barnum once owned a slave named Joice Heth. Barnum claimed she was 161 years old and a former nanny to George Washington. Benjamin Reiss tells the story in his book "The Showman and the Slave: Race, Death, and Memory in Barnum's America."
Media critic Susan Douglas tells Steve Paulson that the American new media is doing less foreign news since 9/11, concentrating on health issues and “news you can use.”
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