Mark Kurlansky tells Steve Paulson that salt made food a tradable commodity and that it inspired revolutions from India to France. Because people have to have salt, governments want to control and tax it.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Novelists have always mined their own lives for inspiration. But no ever's gone quite as far as Karl Ove Knausgaard. People call him the Norwegian Proust. He recently came out with the sixth volume of his autobiographical novel, "My Struggle." What's remarkable about Knausgaard is not just that he's telling the story of his life as a novel. It's the incredible level of detail.
Laurence Gonzales tells Jim Fleming about "Lucy," in which a mysterious 15 year old girl is discovered in the Congo.
Michael Thelwell was a life-long friend of Stokely Carmichael and collaborated with him on his autobiography, “Ready for Revolution.”
Writer and naturalist Peter Matthiessen talks with Steve Paulson about tigers and cranes.
Michael Dirda won the Pulitzer Prize for his literary criticism in the Washington Post Book World. Among his collections of essays is Classics for Pleasure.
Kevin Smokler tells Steve Paulson that the Internet is changing the world of letters but he thinks it’s progress. Smokler sees a welcome democratization of literature.
Ahhh, the sound of grizzly bears fighting over salmon in a tidal pool. Incredible! When you listen to those grizzly bears you are listening to one of the greatest, if not thee greatest, resource American has. It’s land. William Cronon says our land IS who we are. So it makes since, that in the 19th century a bold and visionary invention was created: the National Park. Cronon told Steve Paulson that National Parks are America's greatest invention.
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