Simon Winchester talks about the enormous volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883. The tidal waves killed almost forty thousand people, and the resulting social chaos gave rise to the first incidents of Muslim clerics fomenting violent uprisings against Westerners.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Susan Burch teaches at Gallaudet University and is the author of “Signs of Resistance: American Deaf Cultural History, 1900 - 1942.” She talks about the “oralist” movement which required the deaf to learn sign language and lip reading.
There’s a Modern Caveman Movement afoot. And their inspirational leader is 76 year-old Arthur De Vany. A man who says we all should be mimicking our caveman ancestors.
Since her creation in 1941, Wonder Woman has become one of the most popular superheroes of all time, as well as an beloved icon of second-wave feminism. It also turns out she has a fascinating origin story that intersects with the Women's movement of the early 20th century, the lie detector, and even involves the founders of Planned Parenthood. Historian Jill Lepore tells Steve Paulson about these connections, and talks about Wonder Woman's eccentric creator.
We're celebrating National Poetry Month this year by reading some of our favorite poems. Here's Sara with Allen Ginsberg's "Sunflower Sutra."
A small warning, there are some explicit words in the poem.
We know a lot about how slaves looked at books because of the hundreds of slave narratives they wrote. Scholar Cherene Sherrard-Johnson says a fundamental trope in those narratives is what’s called “the Talking Book.”
Film critic Roger Ebert on the glories of black and white films
Maybe people 30,000 years ago weren't so different from us. That's one of Werner Herzog's takeaways from seeing the ancient paintings in Chauvet Cave. The renowned filmmaker describes his own experience of awe when he encountered this prehistoric art.
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