The State Department used jazz musicians as a weapon in the cold war to win hearts and minds in the Third World. Louis Armstrong, Dizy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubek were among the so-called "jazz ambassadors."
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Jimmy Palmieri talks with Anne Strainchamps about living with intractable pain. Palmieri describes his life and explains how he became a chef in spite of his illness.
Steve Paulson talks with Stephen Hawking's co-author, Caltech physicist Leonard Mlodinow about how they wrote the book and what it really says, and doesn't say.
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.
John Leland tells Steve Paulson that "On the Road" is still exciting and that it holds many lessons about friendship and growing up.
Literary critics have deemed Laura van den Berg one of American's best new writers. Listen in as she talks about the roles of memory and forgetting in our lives, and in her debut novel, "Find Me."
Theologian Martin Marty tells Steve Paulson that The Rapture is a fairly recent concept and can't be found in the Bible.
Michael Palma is the translator of the new Norton edition of Dante's "Inferno." He reads passages from it and talks with Jim Fleming about this literary classic.
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