Americans spend billions of dollars a year on over-the-counter pain relievers. In fact, all over the world, easing pain is big business. And Aspirin’s one of the top sellers. Why? Charles Mann, author of “The Aspirin Wars”, tells Steve Paulson what happened when a German company called Bayer came to America:
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
We have a new Poet Laureate here in the U.S. Listen in as Natasha Trethewey talks about the history and memory embedded in her work.
Harvard Law’s Randall Kennedy (who is African American) is the author of the notoriously titled “Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.” He talks with Steve Paulson about how the N-word has been used historically in America.
Michael Pollan tells Judith Strasser where the American front lawn came from, and what it has come to symbolize.
Rick Miller wrote a one man show that he now performs worldwide. It’s called “MacHomer” and is a fusion of “MacBeth” and “The Simpsons” with Miller doing all the voices.
Nick Flynn is the author of a memoir of his complex relationship with his father, who showed up as a client at the homeless shelter where Nick was working.
Paul Lukas talks with Jim Fleming about the gadget that measures your shoe size, and the charm of the string on the box of Animal Crackers.
Olivia Gentile is the author of "Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds." Gentile tells Anne Strainchamps that her book is a biography of Phoebe Snetsinger who saw some 8400 species of birds while fending off a cancer diagnosis.
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