One of the many utopian groups that started during the late 19th century and early 20th century was the House of David—perhaps the first cult to become a pop culture sensation. Their compound in Benton Harbon, Michigan had an amusement park and a zoo; they had a baseball team that once played an exhibition game against Babe Ruth and the Yankees, and they had bands—highly regarded, touring bands. Here's Henry Sapoznik—the director of the Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture here at the University of Wisconsin—on the mythology and music of the House of David.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Americans are still fighting over the legacy of the Vietnam War, but one perspective is missing: the Vietnamese experience. Novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen provides a Vietnamese perspective.
Here is our Executive Producer Steve Paulson's list of books that have blown his mind recently, with hopes that some of them will expand yours in 2015, if they haven't already.
The number one selling gospel artist last year is also a lightning rod in the Black Church.
Science writer Jennifer Ouellette spent a year confronting her math phobia straight on. She taught herself calculus. It helped her win at Vegas, get a good mortgage, and might just save her from a zombie apocalypse.
Susan Friedman maintains an e-mail correspondence with a colleague in Iraq whose messages describe the hardships and terror of life in Iraq...
Russ Parsons tells Jim Fleming how to make a great french fry, and why potatoes are only the beginning!
Outstanding playwright and performer Sarah Jones takes us inside creating characters. She won a Tony for her multi-character solo show, "Bridge & Tunnel," which was a long running hit on Broadway.
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