Sherman Alexie wrote a novel in response to 9/11. He thinks the fanaticism of flying planes into buildings is the end game of tribalism and he wanted to teach his sons something else.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Our inaugural edition of "Watch This!" comes on the heels of the Academy Awards, with a nominee and the winner of the full-length documentary award.
Larry Brilliant is a doctor, co-founder of the digital social network the Well, and he was the first executive director of Google.org. But back in the Sixties, he was a hippie doctor who joined Wavy Gravy's traveling bus caravan and then landed in an Indian ashram in the Himalayas, where his guru told him his destiny was to help cure smallpox. Miraculously, his U.N. team of doctors eradicated the world's remaining cases of this terrible disease. He tells Steve Paulson about a remarkable moment in history when anything seemed possible.
Olivia Laing talks about her book, "The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking."
Why are Cuba and the U.S. restoring diplomatic relations? Journalist Ann Louise Bardach says Cuba desperately needs to open up its economy now that its patron, Venezuela, can no longer play the role of sugar daddy. And Raul Castro is finally stepping out of the shadow of his ailing brother Fidel.
Senator Russ Feingold is a Democrat from Wisconsin who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Nelson Algren wrote “A Walk on the Wild Side” and won the first National Book Award for “The Man with the Golden Arm,” but was too gritty for most critics
Travel writer Tony Perrotet has spent his career traveling all over the globe, but he skipped the Mediterranean tour, choosing Tierra del Fuego or the Amazon over Rome. But the discovery of an ancient guide book launched him on his most exotic journey yet, in the footsteps of the Ancients.
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