Greil Marcus is one of America's most admired pop culture critics, and has now taken on the entire American canon.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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The kind of people who live in places like Jackson, Kentucky often get characterized as poor, white and angry. And worse, as redneck and racist – hillbilly white trash. J.D. Vance knows them well. They’re his people. He grew up in Kentucky coal country and the Ohio rust belt - places he left behind when he went to Yale Law School. Today he practices in Silicon Valley, but he’s just written a book called “Hillbilly Elegy," which should be required reading for this election year. Welcome to Jackson, Kentucky.
Is it actually possible to give a truly selfless gift? Anthropologist David Graeber says it's not only impossible, the entire idea of a "free gift" is nothing but a construct born in opposition to impersonal market economies. In other words, it’s you know, complicated.
Maybe feminism is a moot point. According to journalist Hanna Rosin, in the rapidly changing world we live in, women are far outpacing men. She writes about the trend in her book "The End of Men."
George Cotkin, author of “Existential America,” says that angst is familiar emotional territory for Americans and explains why Existentialism appealed to people here.
Why do so many people think they hate math? Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg says deep down inside, we all think mathematically. We just don't know it.
Greg Critser is a veteran science and medical journalist. He's the author of three critically acclaimed books, most recently, "Eternity Soup: Inside the Quest to End Aging."
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