Belquis Ahmadi is Afghan, Sameena Nazir is Pakistani. They tell Steve Paulson why Afghans welcomed the Taliban at first, what happened when they revealed their hidden agenda of oppressing women and controlling education.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Kat Duff recommends "Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead," translated by Normandi Ellis.
Chris Wren was a bureau chief for the New York Times in Cairo, Moscow, Beijing, Ottawa and Johannesburg. The family cat, Henrietta, accompanied his family to may of those postings.
We hear from orangutan researcher Birute Galdikas who talks about her experience in Borneo observing the lives orangutans and about the deep connections she shared with them.
She was born in Somali, settled in the Netherlands and was elected to the Dutch Parliament. She says that her fierce criticism of religion grows out of her own shattering personal experience.
Meet the popular blogger who launched a national conversation when she stripped down to her size 18 swimsuit on national television. Brittany Gibbons is a body image advocate who wants to help women everywhere feel comfortable in their own skin. Every inch of it.
Mary Pauline Lowry has been obsessed with fire since she was a child. And she's pursued this obsession throughout her life -- by working as a member of a hotshot crew fighting wildland fires and writing a novel called "Wildfire" based on her experience.
Charles Yu is the author of a critically acclaimed new novel, "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe."
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