Jedediah Purdy is the author of “For Common Things: Irony, Trust and Commitment in America Today” and “Being America: Liberty, Commerce, and Violence in an American World.”
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Michael Pollan tells Judith Strasser where the American front lawn came from, and what it has come to symbolize.
What happens when you discover racial fear in yourself? Rachel Shadoan recently reached an uncomfortable conclusion: she was afraid of black men. Rachel was appalled and decided to do something about it. She tells her story in an article titled, "I am racist and so are you."
Feminist film critic Molly Haskell talks about how Hollywood has treated the subject of writer’s block, and we hear clips from “Adaptation” and “Barton Fink.”
Cultural Critic Richard Todd looked at modern life and saw others telling what is and isn't real.
Peter Larson is a professional paleontologist and commercial fossil hunter. His book is “Rex Appeal: The Story of Sue, the Dinosaur that Changed Science, the Law and My Life.”
Historian Jill Lepore talks with Jim Fleming about Noah Webster and his dictionary. She says Webster thought Americans should have their own language and he celebrated American words.
Jonathan Miller, who along with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and Alan Bennett, created “Beyond the Fringe,” talks about the nature of humor with Steve Paulson.
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