guerrilla warfare and American revolution

[2009-07-13 13:00:00] Who invented guerilla warfare and how did the revolutionary strategy influence the birth of our nation? We'll find out this hour with John F. Ross, executive editor of American Heritage Magazine and author of the new book "War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier" (Bantam, 2009).

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Civil War Atlanta

[2009-08-19 12:00:00] What was life like for the citizens of Civil War Atlanta as their city was besieged and destroyed? We'll find out this hour with Marc Wortman, author of the book "The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta" (Public Affairs Books, 2009).

Byzantine Empire and the West

[2009-09-21 12:00:00] Why do we know what we know about the Roman Empire? We'll find out this hour with historian Lars Brownworth, author of "Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization" (Crown, 2009).

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Mysticism and America

[2009-09-29 13:00:00] How have secret societies and mystical leaders influenced our country? We'll spend this hour with Mitch Horowitz author of the new book "Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation" (Bantam, 2009).

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Stars

[2009-10-12 12:00:00] What's going on in astronomy these days? We'll explore the Milky Way, collliding galaxies and find out if there's really water on the Moon this hour with astronomer Ken Croswell whose new book for kids is "The Lives of Stars" (Boyds Mills Press, 2009).

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London's 16th century playhouses

[2009-11-05 13:00:00] Were the lives lived offstage in the time of Shakespeare as intriguing as the legendary characters in his plays? This hour we'll discover life inside London's famous 16th-century playhouses with Julian Bowsher, Senior Archaeologist at the Museum of London. He's in town for the Boshell Family Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art.

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Abigail Adams

[2009-11-11 13:00:00] As wife of the nation's second president and mother of the sixth, Abigail Adams influenced the founding days of the United States, but who was she really? We'll talk this hour with Woody Holton, author of "Abigail Adams" (Free Press, 2009), a new biography on America's second First Lady.

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Archimedes

[2009-11-16 13:00:00] How much do you know about the man who leaped from his bathtub exclaiming "Eureka!" on discovering a scientific principle that, today, allows a balloon to fly? We'll talk this hour with biographer Alan Hirshfeld, whose new book is "Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes" (Walker & Company, 2009).

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Plant Breeding

[2009-12-21 12:00:00] How did the fruits and vegetable we eat actually come to be? We'll discover how virtually nothing on our tables today resembles the plats that fed the first humans with Noel Kingsbury, author of the new book "Hybrid: The History & Science of Plant Breeding" (University of Chicago, 2009).

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Procrastination

[2010-01-11 12:00:00] Did you wait until the last minute to decide your new year's resolutions? This hour, find out how to stop putting things off until tomorrow with Berkeley psychologist Jane Burka, author of "Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do About It NOW" (De Capo, 2009).

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Checklists

[2010-01-13 12:00:00] How did the humblest tool for organizing data reduce complications in surgical practice, streamline restaurant operations, and minimize the risks of venture capital? We'll spend this hour with Harvard Medical School professor Atul Gawande, author of "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right" (Metropolitan Books, 2010).


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conversation skills

[2010-01-14 12:00:00] Are you capable of handling the awkward moments of daily social speech in a world of cell phones, email, and texting? We'll talk this hour with Daniel Menaker, former executive editor in chief of Random House and author of the new book, "A Good Talk: The Story and Skill of Conversation" (TWELVE, 2010).

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Mark Twain

[2010-02-09 13:00:00] Mark Twain was famous long before he donned the white suit of his later years, but what was it about those last few years that cemented his image in America's consciousness forever? We'll talk this hour with biographer Michael Shelden, author of "Mark Twain: Man In White The Grand Adventure of His Final Years" (Random House, 2010).

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roads

[2010-02-17 12:00:00] Why are roads so important? What impact do roads have on the world and on human society? We'll talk this hour with Ted Conover whose new book is "The Routes of Man: How Roads are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today" (Knopf, 2010).

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food costs

What do you spend on your daily bread and what is reality like for the 35 million Americans with limited food options? We'll spend the hour with Christopher Greenslate, co-author of the new book "On a Dollar a Day: One Couple's Unlikely Adventures in Eating in America" (Hyperion, Paperback, 2010).

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stange weather

Much of the country has seen a strange winter. We ask how weather patterns relate to climate change.

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blact tar heroin

"Black tar" heroin is cheap, potent, and being sold door to door. We'll investigate its new push into Middle America.

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corridors/ living space

C.P. Snow first used the phrase 'corridors of power' in his book Homecoming in 1956. It soon became a widespread, conjuring up a world of officialdom, hierarchy, whispers and secret machinations. The advent of open plan was supposed to put pay to all that, but research from Rachel Hurdley reveals the hidden values of corridors. She tells Laurie and archict Jeremy Till about the chance meetings, gossip and happy confrontations which wll be lost if we fail to appreciate the seemingly unimportant passage between doors. And Simon Duncan, Professor of Comparative Social Policy at the University of Bradford talks about the phenomenon of LAT, a form of relationship that keeps partners out of each other’s living space.

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Haiti at trade show

Adam Davidson takes a road trip to Vegas, via Haiti. When Adam and Chana Joffe-Walt traveled to Haiti recently, they kept hearing about "Magic" — a big clothing trade show in Vegas that the Haitians hoped would be a post-earthquake boon for their apparel industry. So Adam went to Vegas for the show. But Haiti, as it turns out, is only a bit player on the Vegas scene, swamped by the likes of China, Bangladesh and Egypt. And the real star of the show turns out to be Ron Kirk, the U.S. trade representative. What Haiti (and everybody else) really wants is a sweet trade deal with the U.S.

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