Columnist Maureen Dowd says that a lot of people still don’t understand that a columnist is supposed to have a point of view.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Where does obsessive collecting come from? And what does it mean? Lorraine Daston takes us back to 17th century Europe and the nobility’s Kunstkamera, or chambers of wonders. They were filled with nature’s freaks and anomalies. But these marvels, these monsters, gave birth to modern science.
Neil Innes wrote and sang the tunes for The Rutles, who were Eric Idle’s parody of The Beatles.
Marina Chapman has the most remarkable story - kidnapped and abandoned in the South American jungle, living only with monkeys. Eventually, she's rescued and years later, moves to England, where she marries and raises a family. Marina and her daughter Vanessa James tell this story.
Robert Wright tells Steve Paulson that the history of monotheism was shaped by the political events of the turbulent ancient Middle East and that Jesus was not a prophet of peace but a typical Jewish apocalyptic preacher obsessed with the approaching End Times.
If there was an environmental Hall of Fame, Gus Speth would be a charter member. The former dean of the Yale School of Forestry, he's the founder of the World Resources Institute and cofounder of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He says we need get past our fixation on economic growth if we want to curb global warming.
Have you been to the High Line yet? It’s one of Manhattan's newest parks. In the summer, it's full of sunbathers, lush plantings and strolling locals. It’s also about 30 feet above the ground, built on the bed of an old elevated train line. Writer Annik LaFarge talks about the park, five years into its reinvention.
Before she was became "The French Chef," Julia Child worked in espionage for the O.S.S. during World War II. That's where she met her husband Paul. Biographer Jennet Conant tells the story of Julia's career in espionage, and of how the couple navigated the McCarthy investigations.
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