Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
From 1970s rock bands to old Hollywood and NASA, Taylor Jenkins Reid - the author of the popular book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - keeps changing settings while writing easy-to-understand, thoughtful stories that hook readers from the get-go.
A record-setting T. rex sale raises a larger question: what happens to scientifically important objects when anonymous collectors control who can study or see them?
Even with the U.S. men’s team bowing out early, soccer’s momentum in America shows no signs of fading, fueled by surging viewership, soaring club valuations and the addition of international superstars coming to U.S. teams.
Spielberg returns to sci-fi with “Disclosure Day” featuring Emily Blunt, Colin Firth and other big names. We review his latest summer blockbuster.
For nearly a century, the diamond trade has carved up the coastlines of South Africa and Namibia, turning remote communities into mining towns and workers into the engine of a luxury industry most will never benefit from. We look at the human and environmental cost behind natural diamonds, from dangerous labor and low pay to what’s left behind after the …
Imagine being born into slavery in the South. You don’t have a dime to your name, don’t have any education and all you know are the surrounding fields of the plantation you worked on for years or decades. What would you do after the abolishment of slavery? How would you start over? Historian Richard Cahan joins us this week to share a few of the firsthand …
Plastic may feel like a problem of personal habits, but this story pulls the lens back to the industry that keeps making more of it. Journalist Beth Gardiner explains how disposable plastic became one of Big Oil’s biggest future bets and why so much of the cost lands far from the companies that profit from it.
Edgar Smith was convicted of murder, but from prison, he built a powerful case for his own innocence. We speak with writer and author Sarah Weinman about how his story captured public attention and why so many people wanted to believe him.
The United Arab Emirates departure from OPEC signals a shift in how global oil production is coordinated, potentially making energy markets less predictable over time.
The financial impact of America’s white-collar crime dwarfs that of street level offenses, yet these cases are less visible and often less punished. We examine some of the structural reasons behind this big gap in enforcement.
We speak with Dorothy Roberts, an acclaimed law & sociology professor, about uncovering her father’s research on interracial marriage and the journey of realizing her own family and upbringing were part of this larger project. What starts as a personal discovery opens into a deeper look at race, identity and why relationships alone can’t undo deep-rooted …
We follow pilot and author Caroline Paul into an open cockpit aircraft where there’s little barrier between you and the sky, and where flight turns away from routine and headaches and more into adventure.
We look at why thousands of dams are coming down across the U.S. and what changes happen once a river is no longer held back. In places like the Klamath River, the shift is already visible, offering a clearer picture of what restoration can look like and lead to.
Science fiction films tap into our deepest curiosity about the future, using imagined worlds and technologies to explore timeless questions about humanity.
A long-running internet comedy experiment jumps to the big screen with Nirvanna [sic] the Band the Show the Movie.
From coyotes trotting through Chicago neighborhoods to bats pouring out from under Austin bridges, wildlife is showing up in places many Americans never expected. We explore why animals are thriving in urban environments and how cities are slowly turning back into ecosystems where humans are just one of many residents.
For nearly two centuries, HBCU’s have been launchpads, shaping generations of Black leaders and strengthening entire industries. Even today, as these universities produce an outsized share of doctors, judges and engineers, they’re still pushing back against funding gaps and outdated narratives in America.
HBO’s Industry has quietly evolved from cult finance series into one of the sharpest drama shows on TV. Season 4 of the show is now streaming.
Civil rights didn’t end with marches but moved into corporate offices and presidential politics. We revisit how the late Jesse Jackson transformed protest into negotiation and redefined who belongs at the center of power.
Camouflage wasn’t just engineered. It was designed. From World War I “dazzle ships” to today’s complex digital patterns, we trace how creative artists reshaped the look of warfare and changed the way the military thinks about perception, illusion and survival.
For much of U.S. history, marriage quietly overruled consent, shielding a crime the law refused to name. We revisit the 1978 case that cracked that silence and follow the slow, uneven fight to recognize spousal rape as a crime nationwide. Even now, it raises an uncomfortable question: when the law changes, how long does it take for beliefs to follow?
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Caroline Fraser, who grew up near Ted Bundy’s hunting grounds, revisits this dark chapter to dig deeper into why this region became a hotspot for violent crime.
We uncover how the holiday came to be and its significance today.
It’s not your typical horror franchise—and that’s exactly the point.
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