Michael Dirda won the Pulitzer Prize for his literary criticism in the Washington Post Book World. Among his collections of essays is Classics for Pleasure.
Michael Dirda won the Pulitzer Prize for his literary criticism in the Washington Post Book World. Among his collections of essays is Classics for Pleasure.
Ricardo Lagos, economist and former President of Chile, wants the world to know that democracy thrived in his country for more than a hundred years before Augusto Pinochet overthrew the government. In this NEW and UNCUT interview with Jim Fleming, he says it's also thriving now that Pinochet is gone.
Margot Peters is the author of “Design for Living” - a biography of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
Harriet Tubman will soon be gracing our twenty dollar bill. Most of us know only one image of her. It's an iconic image taken later in her life in which her hair's covered in a dark cloth and she has a stern expression. But there are other images of Harriet Tubman as well, including a wood cut of her carrying a musket.
Law professor Nicholas Johnson says the image of Harriet Tubman carrying a rifle doesn’t fit with how most Americans view abolitionists and civil rights leaders. After all, weren’t they supposed to be peaceful? But as Johnson tells Steve Paulson, there's a rich tradition of Black Americans owning guns for self-defense.
Rick Riordan is the author of the wildly popular series of children's books featuring Percy Jackson - the dyslexic son of the god Poseidon.
How do modern societies compare to hunter gatherer cultures? In "The World Until Yesterday," Jared Diamond, explores our radically different values - on everything from childrearing to what we think about strangers. Here's Steve's EXTENDED interview with Diamond.
In the mid-80's the metal band Winger topped the charts with hits like "Seventeen." Then Grunge came along and left bands like Winger in the dust. Now, Kip Winger is back on top with a new CD that debuted at #1 on the music charts. Only this time, he's rocking the classical charts. His new album is "Conversations with Nijinsky"-- orchestral compositions performed by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.
As Jim prepares to step out of the hosting chair, he welcomes Anne as the new TTBOOK host and reflects on his long career in radio. We also hear listeners' letters to Jim.