Steve's hard at work on this weekend’s “Words and Music” show. Here's his note on the inspiration behind the show, and a taste of an interview with a scientist who's putting rappers in MRI machines.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Have you been to the High Line yet? It’s one of Manhattan's newest parks. In the summer, it's full of sunbathers, lush plantings and strolling locals. It’s also about 30 feet above the ground, built on the bed of an old elevated train line. Writer Annik LaFarge talks about the park, five years into its reinvention.
Where does obsessive collecting come from? And what does it mean? Lorraine Daston takes us back to 17th century Europe and the nobility’s Kunstkamera, or chambers of wonders. They were filled with nature’s freaks and anomalies. But these marvels, these monsters, gave birth to modern science.
Pearl S. Buck’s last novel, “ The Eternal Wonder” was discovered last year in a storage locker in Texas. Anne Strainchamps talked with her son and literary executor, Edgar Walsh, about his mother’s life and legacy and her difficult last years.
Richard Goldstein, executive editor of the Village Voice, is appalled by the rampant chauvinism of popular culture.
Jim Fleming talks with Mark Winegardner about his new book, “The Godfather Returns,” and what it was like to step into Mario Puzo’s shoes.
Steve Paulson presents a profile of the late writer Noel Perrin, best known for his essays on rural life.
We're all familair with karaoke -- going out, having a few drinks and singing "Don't Stop Believing" at the top of our lungs. But are you familiar with "karaoke fascism"? Monique Skidmore explains.
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