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.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
With tensions flaring up in the Middle East this week, we're thinking about the city of Jerusalem and the role it plays in inspiring religious fervor and conflict. Boston Globe Columnist James Carroll writes about it in his book, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World."
Penny Von Eschen tells Steve Paulson about the State Department's use of jazz musicians as a weapon in the cold war to win hearts and minds in the Third World.
The sonic sepia of a rare 78RPM lets us eavesdrop on Cantor Isaiah Meisels, singing prayers for theJewish High Holy Days in 1907.
Richard Holmes is fascinated by what he calls "The Age of Wonder." The subtitle of his book is "how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and the terror of science," and he tells Steve Paulson about how Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" came directly out of the scientific climate of the time.
Max Boot tells Jim Fleming that the United States is the most powerful state that’s ever existed, and that sometimes it’s a good and necessary thing to take unilateral action against tyrants.
Jason Roberts tells Anne Strainchamps about James Holman, who traveled all over the world in the nineteenth century and wrote travel books, despite being blind.
What would make Christianity more vital in the 21st century? Theologian Hal Taussig says one answer is "A New New Testament," which combines Gnostic gospels with the traditional New Testament scriptures - all within the same book.
Pages
