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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Constitution quoting religious fanatics with guns taking over government land might seem as extreme as you could take your beliefs in god and country. But you can take it further. Christian Picciolini is the former leader of the US’s first neo-Nazi skinhead organization. He too was acting out of patriotism. He was also acting out of hate and white supremacy. The title of his 2015 memoir, “Romantic Violence” says it all. But Christian quit being a neo-Nazi skinhead. And in 2010, he co-founded a nonprofit peace advocacy groups called Life After Hate that helps youth leave extremist groups. Charles Monroe-Kane sat down with Christian for a frank discussion on racism.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Israeli novelist Amos Oz tells Steve Paulson that his own life parallels the history of modern Israel and that his parents were intellectual European emigres.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Angus Trumble is Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art, and is the author of “A Brief History of the Smile.” He tells Steve Paulson that the Julia Roberts-style toothy grin in a recent fashion that would have seemed improper centuries ago.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Worried about getting old?  Amy Gorman was, so she went looking for inspiration among old women - some who were over 100.
To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Shattered by her father's sudden death, writer Helen Macdonald began dreaming of wild hawks.  In an effort to move beyond her grief, she bought and trained a wild goshawk -- one of the world's fiercest birds of prey.   But between the bird and her grief, she became, in her words "more hawk than human."

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Alice Walker talks about some of the poems in her book “Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth,” inspired by the events of September 11th.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Essayist Andre Aciman is fascinated by memory , though he says what we remember is rarely straightforward.  He talks with Steve Paulson about memory and writing.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In his new book “Better Living Through Criticism,” A.O. Scott distills his decades-long career into a simple to read manifesto that not only explains the qualities of a good critic, but argues their fundamental importance to any culture.

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