Botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer says there is a reason so many around the world consider corn to be sacred. We give it life, and in return, it gives us life. She says the industrial-scale farming of America has lost control of that balance.More
Exploring the Deeper End of Ideas
Politics and History
Tommy Orange's debut novel “There There” was one of the big breakout books of 2018. He told Steve that with his novel, he hoped to better represent modern Native Americans that have grown up living in cities.More
A wide range of writers — now celebrated with commercial and critical success — work to celebrate an evolving literary canon without limiting it. More
When we talk about reforming work, fixing work, creating new kinds of work — author and historian James Livingston thinks perhaps we’re not going far enough. More
The anthropologist David Graeber says “BS jobs” are an epidemic. Especially in that circle of hell known as middle management.More
Studs Terkel talked with people from of all walks of life about their work, from firefighters, to steel workers, to labor activist Cesar Chavez. As part of a whole radio hour examining work, we hear snippets of Terkel's wisdom on how life for blue collar workers has changed over the years.More
Alissa Quart spent the last few years traveling around the country, talking with all kinds of people about work. What she found is a lot of people with jobs that look good on paper but who feel — in a word — squeezed.More
Producer Charles Monroe-Kane on how the boxing world has sidestepped brain injury in the ring.More
Organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson says hoping for big change is great, but it doesn't go anywhere without small actions where people take care of one another.More
Throughout history, there’s been a general, unspoken agreement that getting angry, especially for women, is something to be avoided. But author Rebecca Traister tells us that we should value anger as a catalyst for societal change.More
Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin traced the history of feminist anger and power in their new book, “Unladylike: A Field Guide to Smashing the Patriarchy and Claiming Your Space.”More
Can we ever know how people used to read, say, 500 years ago? Princeton historian Tony Grafton is obsessed with that question.More
Aimee Mullins is an athlete, fashion model and activist who uses whichever of her 12 pair of prosthetic legs is appropriate for the task at hand.More
Commentator Erika Monroe-Kane reflects on the appeal of driving really fast. Really fast.More
Kate Sekules is a magazine editor, fiction and travel writer, restaurant reviewer and the last person who ever thought she’d find herself in a boxing ring. Until she did.More
Ever wonder what goes through the mind of a fighter in the moments before a fight? Here's one take, courtesy of writer Jonathan Gottschall.More
Jonathan Gottschall is an English professor who trained for MMA – mixed martial arts – out of curiosity and wound up in the ring. Steve Paulson talked with him about why, and what it taught him about our relationship with violence.More