Paul Koudounaris has spent the past decade traveling around the world, climbing into church crypts and bone chambers and taking photos at over 250 burial sites in 30 countries. He's discovered chapels decorared with skeletons and underground caves filled with skulls—among other things. In this interview, he tells us how he began his obsession with displays of death.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Scott A. Lukas is a cultural anthropologist and a former trainer at Six Flags Astroworld in Houston. He's also the author of "Theme Park," which chronicles the evolution of the theme park.
Plenty of men are obsessed with body image, too. Eric Chaline traces the cult of the male body beautiful back to ancient Greece, in "The Temple of Perfection" -- his new history of the gym.
Standup, prat falls, punch lines. Performing comedy's one thing, writing it's another.
Ian Frazier has been writing comedy for the New Yorker for decades. Catch him talking about the rewards of writing humor, and telling jokes in Russian.
Playwright Wendy Wasserstein tells Anne Strainchamps she grew up going to the theater and wanted to be sure others got the same opportunity.
Shirley Cunningham is a former nun and the author of “Chasing God.” She tells Steve Paulson about her spiritual quest for feminine images of the Divine, including the Black Madonna.
Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt are the founders of "Lebowski Fest," an annual event that celebrates Joel and Ethan Coen's 1998 film, "The Big Lebowski."
For others, football is sacred. In fact, William Dean says the game is part of "American spiritual culture." He talks with Jim Fleming about the way religious beliefs crop up in American popular culture.
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