The whole idea of American Exceptionalism has lost currency in recent years. But in this Dangerous Idea, cultural historian Andrew Warnes asks, What if American is exceptional after all?
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Simon Winchester talks about the enormous volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883. The tidal waves killed almost forty thousand people, and the resulting social chaos gave rise to the first incidents of Muslim clerics fomenting violent uprisings against Westerners.
Thomas Seeley is a professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University. He talks about the social organization of a bee colony with Steve Paulson.
Tony Perrottet specialized in exotic travel until he decided to go to Rome, then travel the sites of the ancient world using classical Roman tour guides.
Sarah Flannery is an Irish mathematician and former child prodigy. She won the EU Young Scientist of the Year award when she was 16 for her work on the Cayley-Purser algorithm. She challenges us to the Russian Postal System puzzle.
The question of how and why we come to believe lies fascinates filmmaker Errol Morris.
Mississippian Charlotte Hays is co-author of a cookbook called, “Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral.”
Sasha Issenberg says that modern Sushi was born in 1971 when a Japan Airlines employee first brought Canadian tuna halfway around the world.
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