Novelist Olivia Laing's Dangerous Idea? Loneliness is a gift.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Steve here. 2016 marked the 100th anniversary of America’s beloved National Park system. I could think of no one better to reflect on the importance of national parks than one of my favorite writers, Terry Tempest Williams.
Barack Obama talks with Steve Paulson about his self-image and success.
David Eagleman is a neurologist and the co-author of the book "Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia."
Writer Brendan Koerner reviews Yukio Mishima's classic novel, "Confessions of a Mask".
Angie da Silva is a historian of black cultural life in the United States, going back to the Civil War. She collects stories, both through oral history and archival research. But she's not merely a writer. She brings these stories to life through historical reenactment, often as a slave character she's created named Lila. She says that the stories she hears and tells are too often left out of our history books.
In this interview, she talks about her work and tells the story of Mary Meachum, a free black abolitionist who worked on the Mississippi in St. Louis.
Historian Elizabeth Abbot talks with Judith Strasser about the history of celibacy — from the ancient Greek goddess Athena to boxing superstar Mohammed Ali.
David Thorpe is a filmmaker who went in search of his voice. Specifically, he wanted to know why he and many other gay men ended up markers of a "gay voice"—one with precise enunciation and sibilant "s" sounds. He spoke with his family and several speech therapists to better understand, control, and inhabit his voice.
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