Tuesday, scholar Stephen Greenblatt joins us to talk about Shakespeare's tyrants. In many of his tragedies, he grappled with this question: why would anyone be drawn to a leader unsuited to govern? (Rebroadcast)
Behind Vladimir Nabokov's brilliant and disturbing novel Lolita is a true story of a girl who was kidnapped and abused by a middle-aged man. Journalist Sarah Weinman new book is about The Real Lolita.
Friday, we’re talking about a podcast that challenges listeners to refine their sense of hearing. For host Dallas Taylor, sound can change how we experience and enjoy life and the world around us.
Historian Scott Poole says our modern fascination with horror came from the atrocities of World War I. Wednesday, we're talking about how the Great War is still felt in art and popular culture today.
Edward Abbey’s love letter to redrock country, Desert Solitaire, is 50 years old now. But a lot has changed in that time. The writer Amy Irvine joins us to offer a different take on Abbey’s season in the wilderness.
The writer Leslie Jamison said she had bought into the story that booze and a dark temperament were ingredients of beautiful art. So when she sobered up she had to ask herself whether you can write compelling stories about happiness.
The photographer Robert Mapplethorpe wanted to be more than just a photographer. He wanted to be a modern master. A new film offers a portrait of the artist who, at the height of his craft, flirted with self-destruction.
After the show today you might just ditch everything you thought you knew about the poet Emily Dickinson. Filmmaker Madeleine Olnek’s new film tries to correct the idea a lot of us have of Dickinson as a sullen, distant recluse.
We recently uncovered a collection of essays by the late naturalist and environmentalist Ellen Meloy. So Wednesday, we're reintroducing you to the beauty and wit found in her extraordinary writing.
Playwright JT Rogers joins us to talk about his award-winning Oslo. It's about the 1993 negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Rogers says theater, like diplomacy, works when it’s personal.
