As the daughter of a child psychologist, writer Jessica Lamb-Shapiro grew weary of the simple solutions offered by popular self-help books. So maybe it was only natural that she wanted to understand why people liked them so much. To find out, she read hundreds of books and articles, journeyed to conferences headed by self-improvement icons, and even conquered her fear of flying along the way.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Music writer Peter Guralnick tells us how the legendary Sam Phillips created rock and roll as a musical protest.
Literary critic William Gass talks with Steve Paulson about the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and explicates a poem of Rilke’s about a bowl of roses.
Historian Simon Schama tells Steve Paulson that Rembrandt thought art should tell the truth and that he was an enormously innovative painter.
Recently hundreds of Evangelical leaders met with Donald Trump. One prominent Evangelical who did not attend is Michael Gerson, the former speechwriter and top aide to President George W. Bush. Gerson believes it's time to reframe the conservative agenda and he warns his fellow believers to beware “The Mark of Trump.”
Legendary showman P.T. Barnum once owned a slave named Joice Heth. Barnum claimed she was 161 years old and a former nanny to George Washington. Benjamin Reiss tells the story in his book "The Showman and the Slave: Race, Death, and Memory in Barnum's America."
Historian Tariq Ali tells Steve Paulson that the current Indian government is dominated by Hindu fundamentalists.
Everyone thinks The Arabian Nights is a collection of stories and folktales from the Middle East. In fact, some of the most famous were written by Europeans, who fell in love with the tradition and wanted more.
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