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 Bradley tells what happened on the next island over from Iwo Jima, where eight American airmen were captured and beheaded.
In Israel, writer D.A. Mishani is breaking new ground by writing crime fiction. Why are there so few detective novels written in Hebrew? Mishani explains.
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.
James McManus writes for Harpers. With an advance from the magazine, he entered the world series of poker. McManus talks about playing with professionals and muses on the balance of luck and skill required for tournament play.
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.
Jai Uttal leads kirtans around the world. Kirtan is the Indian practice of ecstatic chant that combines music and devotion.
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.
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