Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
Statues commemorating the Confederacy remain in some towns in the US South, though its principles promoting slavery and oppression of blacks are in disrepute. Some towns have removed these statues in the face of heavy opposition. A former Mayor of New Orleans describes how his thinking evolved toward a decision to remove the statues in his city, and the …
On April 20, 1999, Sue Klebold’s son and his friend went into Columbine High School and committed one of the largest mass shootings in US history. Over the last 18 years, Klebold has been forced to cope with this horrible tragedy while managing anxiety attacks and being blamed by so many. Klebold talks about her story and the mental health messages she wants …
This year’s Academy Awards have been a series of mistakes, from suggesting a Best Popular Film award to the plan to award from of the evening’s awards during commercial breaks.
From Pirates of the Caribbean and Captain Hook to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, pirates have a real foothold in our culture. But their history is anything but a fairy tale. Historian Eric Jay Dolin joins the show to discuss some of the most notorious real-life pirates to ever life.
Throughout history, stories have been told but sometimes preserving them for future generations has proven difficult. We examine the ways stories have been passed down, and the role the written word has played in shaping our civilizations.
Every year, there is some outrage over Oscar snubs. This year, many of us wish Ethan Hawke had been nominated for First Reformed. We look at why.
Women have served in the US military dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Back then, they had to lie about their sex and their names in order to get enlist, but some did. Now, combat positions are open to women. We discuss the vital role women have played in America’s military might.
Early January has long been a time for people to hit the reset button and try to refocus their energy and attention for the year ahead. We talk to two experts about how to overcome anxiety to feel happier and more at ease, despite the chaos of our everyday life.
We’re about to enter the season of New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you want to write a book, make a short film, or paint your masterpiece. We talk to two published authors about silencing your inner critic, breaking through any artistic funks, and finally putting pen to paper in 2019.
New Year’s Eve is a huge night for bars, but what if you’d rather not brave the elements and pay big cover charges? We discuss ways to ring in the new year on your couch with festive drinks, snacks, and maybe a movie.
Sarah Ruhl is a MacArthur Fellowship recipient and a famed playwright. As a professor, she met Max Ritvo, who went on to become a published poet. She recounts the story of their friendship and how they used letters to make a connection and comfort one another while Ritvo faced the end of his life.
Christmas 1941 came just weeks after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor dragged America into World War II. We talk to historian Stanley Weintraub about how America was getting ready for war while trying to celebrate the holiday season.
Cooking for holiday parties can be a major source of stress. We have big groups at our house for hours at a time, and you want to impress them with your culinary skills. But some of us don’t really have many culinary skills. We talk to Julia Turshen for some insight into how to impress with our holiday cooking this season.
In the build-up to Halloween, many of us get in the spooky mood by watching horror movies like Nightmare on Elm Street or, naturally, Halloween. Before Christmas, seasonal cheer leads people to dig out their old copies of It’s a Wonderful Life or Elf. But there aren’t many Thanksgiving movies.
Over 95 years ago, New York City was the target of a terrorist attack that has yet to be solved. No suspects have ever been named in the attack that killed or injured over 400 Wall Street bystanders. In contrast to the attacks of September 11th, which occurred just around the corner from the 1920 bombing, this deadly event has been all but erased from the …
Ann Hood was a Beatles fan all her life. Then, tragedy struck and she found herself unable to listen to the band at all. She tells the true story of how she re-gained her love for the iconic group, and how she channeled her story into a work of fiction pleasing multiple generations of readers.
Throughout his career, Eggers has pushed the boundaries of writing, and no book better illustrates his desire to innovate than his 2014 novel, Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? It’s a book that consists only of dialogue. Each line is introduced with a single dash, and while it sounds complicated, the form actually makes it …
Spiders and bats are two of the most indelible symbols of Halloween fear across the country. We talk to experts to get the truth behind these traditionally scary creatures, and hear why neither of them are nearly as scary as we’ve been made to believe.
It’s the time of year when we dress up in costumes, head to haunted houses, and shell out candy to trick-or-treaters. But why do we do those things? We take a look at the traditions of Halloween and what makes being scared so fun.
Earlier this month, Netflix released The Haunting of Hill House, a 10-episode horror series loosely based on the novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson. The series follows the Crain family; two parents and five children, over the course of multiple timelines. We watch their time spent decades earlier in the Hill House, a creepy old mansion they moved into …
Video games are often considered child’s play, or at least something below “real” art. Author Andrew Ervin argues that’s not true, and that video games are now big-business for TV networks and advertisers, as well as a source of true artfulness.
Sarah Smarsh is a journalist and author who grew up poor on a farm in Kansas. She discusses life in rural America, how our culture treats people living in poverty, and the causes she attributes to America’s wage gap.
There are millions incarcerated in American prisons, even many juveniles who were sentenced to long terms alongside adults. We talk to guests about how and why this happens, whether it should continue, and what life is like for young people behind bars.
Sometimes, classifying art in one specific genre can be tricky. Look at Star Wars. It’s a space opera, sure. But what does that mean? It was built to be a Western. And sci-fi. With some fantasy aspects? And who is the intended audience? Is it for kids? Teenagers? Adults? All of the above? That can be the difficulty in classification.
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