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March 2019
How to Be Happy
Happiness is a choice you make. So writes John Leland who reflects on the timeless subject in his new book Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old.
January 2019
Living With Robots
Judith Shulevitz, from the Atlantic Monthly, and Maxim Pozdorovkin, filmmaker of The Truth About Killer Robots discuss the future of robots.
January 2018
How Storytelling Shaped the History of the World
Stories are much more than entertainment—they shape our world. They’ve inspired the rise and fall of empires and nations, sparked our understandings of basic political and philosophical concepts, and have given rise to religious beliefs.
February 2016
Reclaiming Conversation
Most conversations today involve distracted people looking at their phones and not their partners. This, according to Sherry Turkle, is leading to a “crisis of empathy” at work, at home and in our public life.
April 2001
Folklore of Violence
Afro-American folk singer James Sparky Rucker talks about the glorification of the outlaw in popular and traditional folk music. Using songs and lyrics, he traces the tradition of celebrating outlaws from Jesse James to modern gangsta rappers.
October 2011
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Author Gregory Maguire has re-imagined the stories of Oz beginning with Wicked, which took the viewpoint of one of the wicked witches. With the publication of Out of Oz, the final volume of the series, he looks back on his journey of imagination.