The kind of people who live in places like Jackson, Kentucky often get characterized as poor, white and angry. And worse, as redneck and racist – hillbilly white trash. J.D. Vance knows them well. They’re his people. He grew up in Kentucky coal country and the Ohio rust belt - places he left behind when he went to Yale Law School. Today he practices in Silicon Valley, but he’s just written a book called “Hillbilly Elegy," which should be required reading for this election year. Welcome to Jackson, Kentucky.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Greil Marcus is one of America's most admired pop culture critics, and has now taken on the entire American canon.
A lot of people dismiss fashion as frivolous, but Media Studies professor Minh-Ha Pham says it's a great lens through which to study race, gender and class politics. "Fashion and so many other kinds of culture and practices that are traditionally associated with women... are often seen as frivolous," she says, and "that dismissal of fashion is linked to a larger, a broader sexism in our culture."
Henry Raddick is an enthusiastic contributor of reviews to the Amazon.com website. He tells Steve Paulson that he reads all the books he reviews, and only says good things about them.
Greg Critser is a veteran science and medical journalist. He's the author of three critically acclaimed books, most recently, "Eternity Soup: Inside the Quest to End Aging."
Comic-book creator Gary Spencer Millidge talks to Anne Strainchamps about his book, "Alan Moore: Storyteller." The book proiles one of the most influential creative forces in the history of comic books.
Why do so many people think they hate math? Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg says deep down inside, we all think mathematically. We just don't know it.
Is it actually possible to give a truly selfless gift? Anthropologist David Graeber says it's not only impossible, the entire idea of a "free gift" is nothing but a construct born in opposition to impersonal market economies. In other words, it’s you know, complicated.
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