Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
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.
Lists are a part of our everyday. Often, they are a forgotten part of our everyday. But Shaun Usher read through countless lists to compile a stunning collection of lists throughout time that shed light on the times, our collective history, and the list makers themselves.
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.
We know so much about the men of the Civil War, but the women from the war are all but forgotten in our history. Historian Karen Abbott decided to change that. She tells the story of several women who helped their sides during the Civil War.
There’s a long history of soldiers processing their experiences through poetry. We talk to Adam Gilbert, a war historian and author of A Shadow on Our Hearts: Soldier-poetry, morality, and the American war in Vietnam about the history and future of these soldier poets.
We have all heard of polygraph machines or ‘lie detectors.’ But are they truly reliable? Their results are inadmissible in court and yet some investigation agencies still use them. We talk to historian and author John Philipp Baesler about the polygraph’s history and its questionable use in our modern world.
We’ve all heard stories of segregated America circa the 1950’s, but historian and author James W. Loewen says not all of those racist institutions have been completely eliminated, even now. Loewen explains ‘sundown towns,’ towns where minorities were not welcomed after sundown, and he says some of them are still unofficially ‘sundown’ due to their lasting …
Though Apollo 11 gets all the fame and Apollo 13 was made into a thrilling Ron Howard movie, author and historian Jeffrey Kluger says the Apollo 8 mission was a foundational trip for American space exploration. He takes us through the mission and examines what it meant for NASA moving forward.
When people discuss “the immigrant narrative,” you may picture Ellis Island. But what is that process like today? We talk to two writers about the more modern immigrant journey.
We all love a good theater performance. But are theater and performance good strategies to affect social change? Our guest thinks so. He’s a performer, writer and educator who uses serious play and theater to help change people’s minds and change society for the better.
Most of us have heard of the Cosa Nostra, but there’s another powerful mafia in Italy: the ‘Ndrangheta. We talk to an expert about this lesser-known mafia and the brave mothers who stood up to the crime organization.
The English language can be hard to spell since it often follows conflicting rules. We trace the origins of this tricky language, and explain how these difficulties came to be.
It’s a topic that has been in the news lately: how our government detains groups of people. We look back at history to see what really happened in World War II Japanese internment camps, and how we can avoid similar shame now and in the future.
Teamwork is seen as a premium in our culture. We believe that two is better than one. But entrepreneur and author Shane Snow says that we often don’t use our groups and teams to their fullest potential. He gives us the science behind why, and how we can improve our communities.
Netflix and Amazon are go-tos for many Americans looking for a movie to watch. But how can people watch classics like The Maltese Falcon or Singin’ in the Rain in this new world?
Discovering one of the most well-known ancient civilizations was no easy task. We talk to author William Carlsen about the two men who ventured into the jungle and discovered the Mayans.
The financial world was shocked when the FBI began investigating Wall Street big shot Steve Cohen and his company SAC Capital. We discuss what they were looking for, what they found, and what it all means going forward.
The #MeToo movement has been getting headlines for months now. The movement was started by women, but what men still have a role to serve in the fight for equality and in the elimination of sexism and misogyny.
The Vietnam War was an unpopular war. As such, soldiers would come home to a society that didn’t approve of what they did…even if they themselves were drafted into the war. We talk to a former Vietnam War protester about what we can do now to honor and remember those who served in Vietnam.
Politicians have always stirred up controversy, but no politician has ever done it as often, or as well as Donald Trump. We talk to two experts about the attraction to these politicians.
Movie criticism these days typically boils down to numbers and general consensus. But when Roger Ebert was alive, he cultivated a following that considered his perspective above all else.
In 1947, India was split into two countries: India and Pakistan. Author Veera Hiranandani talks about the history of the partition and how it is still tragically relevant in 2018.
Author Marc Perrusquia joins the show to tell the story of Ernest Withers, a Civil Rights photographer and a spy for the FBI, and helps us parse through what it all means.
Author Susan Meissner discusses with us the Spanish Flu of 1918, how it interacted with World War I, the immense cost of the sickness, and how her novel explores the time in history.
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