Politics and History

fake gorilla

Mark Sundeen got an offer he couldn't refuse. A publisher paid him upfront to write a book on bullfighting in Spain. Mark doesn't speak Spanish, knows nothing about bullfighting, and hates to travel, but that didn't stop him from writing the book. He just made the whole thing up. In this hour of...

Wolfe in 1988

Forty years ago Tom Wolfe pioneered a snappy, "you are there" kind of reporting - what he called "the new journalism." Now he writes novels, but Wolfe says he's still a reporter at heart, tackling tough issues like class and social status. He says most American fiction is self-indulgent - cut...

soccer pitch

When you hear the word "globalization," you probably don't think of the sport of soccer. But Franklin Foer does. He traveled around the globe to explore this connection, attending soccer matches and interviewing his heroes. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Franklin Foer will tell us...

yoga pose

Yoga is booming in the US, meditation is now a commonplace practice, and Buddhism is busting at the seams right alongside mainstream American religions. But where does this new shift in spiritual culture come from? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we examine the spiritual...

a canadian flag flying

John F. Kennedy once said that what unites Americans and Canadians is far greater than what divides us. Try telling that to the writers behind the animated television series "South Park." In one episode, Canada is portrayed as a mysterious land similar to Oz. The Academy Award-nominated song...

The Illustrated London News's illustration of the Christmas Truce

In 1914, over the week leading up to Christmas day, the opposing troops sang carols to each other, played ball and exchanged gifts, in spite of their generals’ wishes. Historian Stanley Weintraub says that the Christmas Truce was a one-time-only event.

A woman with baby

Jacqueline Plumez tells Steve Paulson that every caring woman has greater strength than she imagines and gives some examples of "mother power" in action, from MADD to the Mall of America.

TTBOOK

Lauren Weedman grew up knowing she was adopted.  When she became a teenager, she decided she wanted to meet her birth mother, but the hospital records were sealed and the search seemed hopeless.  Then Lauren’s mom got in on the act, and today Lauren has two moms – and a one woman show...

Pages

Subscribe to Politics and History