Jim Crace's novel "The Pesthouse" takes place in America after an un-named eco-disaster has decimated the population and destroyed much of our hi-tech civilization.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Historian Rebecca Spang tells Judith Strasser that "restaurant" originally meant a cup of broth and explains how it evolved into the culinary paradise we know today.
At the heart of many Americans' fear of black men is an ugly stereotype -- the stereotype of the black criminal. Historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad traces some of our current attitudes about race and crime to the late 19th century, when sociologists first began looking at crime statistics.
The sonic sepia of a rare 78RPM lets us eavesdrop on Cantor Isaiah Meisels, singing prayers for theJewish High Holy Days in 1907.
Dan Fagin just won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, “Toms River.” It’s a remarkable nonfiction tale of industrial pollution and its health impacts for people in a small New Jersey town.
John Updike is celebrated as a novelist but is also an essayist and art critic.
Historian John D’Emilio is the author of “Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin.” D’Emilio says that Rustin was crucial to the civil rights movement but has been forgotten because he was gay
Miles Hyman is Shirley Jackson's grandson. He's an artist who specializes in graphic novels and adaptations of classic literature. His latest book has a lot of personal meaning for him. It's a graphic adaptation of his grandmother's most famous short story, "The Lottery." Hyman talks about how and why he took on this challenging task.
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