Over the past year, a number of Arab and Muslim comedians have sprung up on stages across the country, capitalizing on the public’s increased awareness of their religion and culture. Jokes about burkas, the Taliban and racial profiling are being used to puncture stereotypes, tackle hate and ease tensions. One year after Rudy Giuliani stepped [...]

Music and Memories: Almost one-year ago now, the nation mourned as Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted and killed by terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan. Last weekend in Boston, family, friends, colleagues and musicians honored Pearl in a concert called “Universal Language: A Musical Tribute to Daniel Pearl”. Tonight we share with [...]

From the delight of debut fiction, to the resurgent voices of literature’s most prolific writers, we turn through the pages of everything from Alice Sebold to Umberto Eco, and look back at the best books of 2002.
Guests:
Carole Horne, Vice President and Senior buyer at the Harvard Bookstore
Ron Charles, Book Editor at the Christian Science Monitor

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank with the latest on Bush administration efforts to defuse a nuclear confrontation in Asia and downplay a sense of crisis on the Korean peninsula.
Guests:
Dana Milbank

Trust has been on the decline in America for 30 years, paralleling growing economic inequality, says tonight’s guest. But trust is vital because it is the basis for a vibrant, well-functioning society. We’re taking an x-ray of our social health.
Guests:
Eric Uslaner, Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland
Jack Beatty, “On Point” News [...]

we’re both cool
Guests:

Tell me the facts, and I’ve got the facts. Tell me the story, and I’ve got a picture, a movie in the mind, a narrative of the world.
In part two of On Point’s on narrative journalism top flight American journalists share their narrative craft and their stories at a recent conference on narrative journalism, [...]

As the dust settled from the September 11th attacks and we began our Friday shows, one of our very first guests on was singer songwriter extraordinaire, Vance Gilbert. Now on the last Friday of 2002, we’ve invited him back with a couple of his musician friends Catie Curtis and Ellis Paul. An evening of music, [...]

Life happens and humans make sories out of it. Stories to make sense of events and relationships. Stories to capture and preserve a moment. Stories to persuade. Stories to convey the news. Journalists take a special interest in stories, in narrative as a means of conveying what they’ve seen and experienced.
Guests:
Malcolm Gladwell, staff writer at [...]

Who has been buying SUVs since automakers turned them into family vehicles? They tend to be people who are insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in [...]

Over the past year, Americans have become more introspective.
We’ve been almost forced to examine who we are, what we are, our values and beliefs and what makes Americans… American. In the search for our national identity, many of us have turned to poetry for answers; through the stanzas of Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, William Carlos [...]

Music of Christmas past. The history and art of Christmas music through the ages. From medieval to modern times, we take note of some of the best Christmas music through the centuries. Distinguished musical ensemble the Boston Camerata is our guide for an evening of song and celebration.
Guests:
Joel Cohen, Artistic Director The Boston Camerata
Anne Azema, [...]

Rapper Eminem’s movie “8-mile”has grossed the second highest first week ever for an R-rated movie. The movie’s success will inevitably expose more and more viewers to hip-hop music and hip-hop culture. This led by one of the genre’s most controversial, most mainstream and… most white artists. Once thought of as underground and street music, [...]

Breast cancer crusader Dr. Susan Love is going to battle again. This time she’s fighting decades-old thinking about early breast cancer detection. The topic’s made headlines, and a lot of women nervous in recent weeks, with news a large study in China on breast self-examination found no evidence the monthly ritual prevented deaths.
For Dr. Susan [...]

Sister Olga Yacob stands less than five feet tall but this diminutive nun is tall timber. The first Assyrian Catholic nun in 700 years, she founded a new order that ministers to poor in Iraq. She has seen first-hand the impact of international sanction. Fear of Saddam Hussein. Anger toward America.
The world stands at the [...]

You’re working hard. Worrying about the holidays. Is this normal stress or are you chronically stressed-out, and is your body paying the price? How we can learn to maintain that perfect balance — and stay healthy.
Guests:
Dr. Bruce McEwen, director of the neuroendocrinology laboratory, Rockefeller University, and author of the new book, “The End of Stress [...]

Thornton Wilder’s classic play “Our Town” has become one of the most performed theatrical performances of the twentieth-century.
Set in the fictional Grove’s Corner, New Hampshire at the turn of the century, its messages of hope and living in the day still speak to us today.
Tonight, what has made Our Town stand the test of time?
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Guests:
Tappan [...]

Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi announced today that he is stepping down as Senate Majority Leader. What does this latest shake-up mean for the future of GOP leadership and contemporary conservatism?
Guests:
Gail Chaddock, congressional reporter for the Christian Science Monitor
Charles Krauthammer, Pulitzer-prize winning syndicated columnist for the Washington Post, essayist for Time magazine
Mickey Edwards, was [...]

More than half of states reported budget gaps for the next fiscal year. With state revenue down and politicians reluctant to raise taxes, the current budget crisis means aggressive belt-tightening on education and Medicaid spending. Should the federal govenrment intervene? Or do states need to dig themselves out of the fiscal black [...]

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said today Iraq’s declaration fails totally to come clean.
Guests:
Robert Drogin, covers intelligence for the Los Angeles Times

Propaganda and the Pentagon. Disinformation and manipulation. A look into Defense Department’s secret world of global information warfare, and how the DOD wants to influence even America’s allies.
Guests:
William Arkin, defense correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, and author of the Dot-Mil column at Washingtonpost.Com
Charles P. Borchini, Colonel, US Army (Ret.), former chief of the [...]

We’ve all said it before “Liked the movie but the book was much better”. Adaptations. Hollywood has taken from literature since its very beginnings and this holiday season finds a bunch of literary works transitioned to the silver screen, From the Sci-fi, “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter”, to the classic “Nicholas Nickleby” to [...]

Secret deals that lead to big payouts for top executives.
Guests:
Diana B. Henriques, financial investigative reporter with the New York Times

The silos are already in the ground, a hundred miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. Yesterday, President Bush announced that they will be filled, by 2004, with the weapons of a new national missile defense system. A modest version of the grand Star Wars dream of Ronald reagan. Not yet a speace defense shield, knocking nuclear-tipped [...]

Big Brother is watching. The Defense Department is launching Total Information Awareness, a project to observe, collect, and analyze mountains of personal data — on Americans and foreigners alike. Can covert electronic sentinels prevent terrorist attacks and preserve civil liberties?
Guests:
Farhad Manjoo, business and technology reporter for Salon.com and author of the recent article “Is Big [...]

In the wake of Al Gore’s decision not to run for president in 2004, we ask the question: What are the qualities of the ideal Democratic Party candidate? Is the ideal candidate out there?
Guests:
Daniel Payne, a communications consultant to Democratic candidates and non-profit organizations
Todd Domke, Republican media consultant
Eleanor Clift, contributing editor, Newsweek

Astronaut John Herrington, the first Native American to orbit the earth, returned home on December 7th. He shares the thoughts, experiences, and emotions he felt floating one thousand miles up.
Guests:
John Herrington, NASA Astronaut

President Bush announced today a plan to deploy phase one of a comprehensive missile defense program by 2004.
Guests:
Bradley Graham, covers the Pentagon for the Washington Post, author of “Hit to Kill: The New Battle Over Shielding America from Missile Attack.”

In the wake of Al Gore’s decision not to run for president in 2004, we ask the question: What are the qualities of the ideal Democratic Party candidate? Is the ideal candidate out there?
Guests:
Daniel Payne, a communications consultant to Democratic candidates and non-profit organizations
Todd Domke, Republican media consultant
Eleanor Clift, contributing editor, Newsweek

Rising tensions between North Korea and the United States, threaten to open up a second front on the axes of evil. Military action could be disasterous for the region. Is the White House prepared to take the diplomatic steps required to diffuse North Korea’s nukes?
Guests:
John Larkin, Seoul correspondent, Far Eastern Economic Review
Mitchell Reiss, [...]

Republicans wanted to make their party seem more welcoming to minorities. Then along came Trent Lott and the racial divisions were ripped open again. Lott’s comments at the 100th birthday celebration for Strom Thurmond, praising the senator’s 1948 presidential campaign, which had been based on support for segregation, caused Republicans to cringe and [...]

Music has become an indelible part of our Christmas tradition, as much as Santa Claus, stockings hanging by the chimney, and chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Carols, pop-songs, sacred hymns, you hear them everywhere you go this time of year, Although songs like Jingle Bells, White Christmas, and the Hallelujah chorus have stood [...]

In this radio diary, the current owner of Albert Einstein’s house in Princeton, New Jersey talks about what it’s like to own a piece of history.
Guests:
Gayle Sawtelle is the current owner of the Einstein House in Princeton,. New Jersey. She lives there with her family.

Nearly a century has passed since Albert Einstein began his first research that led to his ingenious discoveries about space and time. But the great physicist was also a passionate humanitarian who campaigned against racism, McCarthyism, and anti-Semitism. In this hour, we look at Einstein’s science and activism.
Guests:
Michael Shara, Curator of the Einstein Exhibit and [...]

Sarah Chayes, On Point’s Afghanistan correspondent, provides insight and analysis on the challenges the Afghan people face in the long, tough road to rebuilding their country.
Guests:
Sarah Chayes, former NPR reporter, now based in Kandahar with the NGO, Afghans for Civil Society

Most of us see things as they are. James Carroll sees things as they should be. He cuts through the clutter of news headlines and gets to heart of matters.
The holiday season is now upon us. It is time of joy, hope, and renewal. We’re stepping back from the flash of the year’s headlines with [...]

The Bush administration has received credible evidence that Islamic extremists affiliated with al Qaeda have acquired a chemical weapon suspected to be the nerve agent VX from Iraq.
Guests:
Barton Gellman, staff writer, The Washington Post

The hottest turf war in Washington pits Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld against CIA director George Tenet. Over control of American intelligence, gathering and interpretation. The Defense Department is winning. Can this be good?
Guests:
Stansfield Turner, director, Central Intelligence Agency(1977 to 1981) and senior research scholar, Center for International and Security Studies, University of Maryland
Melvin Goodman, [...]

In history books, American slaves are a nameless, faceless group whose impact on the nation’s history is unquestionable but whose individual lives are almost completely unknown. Tom Costa, a history professor at the University of Virginia at Wise, is trying to change all that. Costa is compiling an online database of newspaper ads [...]

Democrats gathered this week in Washington to digest the lessons of November and look forward to 2004. The debate swings from saddling up to Bush politics to a strong return to the parties core values — and core voters.
Guests:
E.J. Dionne, Washington Post Columnist
Matt Miller, nationally syndicated columnist and host of the public radio program [...]

Invading Iraq will cost many billions. Can the American economy, already in the doldrums, afford it? And just who will pay?
Guests:
William D. Nordhaus, Sterling professor of economics at Yale University, author of “Iraq: The Economic Consequences of War” in the December 5th issue of the New York Review of Books
Robert Hormats, Vice-President at [...]

A House-Senate panel released a report today about intelligence failures prior to 9/11. But critics say the report is too soft, failing to hold key government agencies and officials accountable for lapses leading up to the terrorist attacks.
Guests:
James Risen, reporter, The New York Times

Right behind the shakeup of top economic advisers, the Bush administration is preparing a 300 billion dollar stimulus package it hopes will jumpstart the economy. Why more tax cuts are at the top of the stimulus agenda–and who is expected to get them.
Guests:
Jonathan Weisman, economic policy reporter, The Washington Post
Stephen Moore, senior fellow, The [...]

Nationwide strikes to oust President Hugo Chavez have paralyzed Venezuela over the last eight days.
What began as a labor conflict has spread across industries and towns to stop, trade, traffic and oil exports. With eyes on the Middle East, the Bush administration is hoping for the OAS to carry a diplomatic solution.
Meanwhile Venezuelans are bracing [...]

Add parish priests to the list of Catholics calling for Boston’s Cardinal Law to resign. Documents released last week show stunning new allegations of sexual abuse by priests and the apparent cover-up by the church. Also last week, the church revealed it is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a way of dealing [...]

Twelve thousand pages long, it’s being called Iraq’s “Weapon of Mass Obfuscation.” But Iraq’s weapons list, submitted on Saturday, keeps Baghdad in compliance of U.N. Resolution 1441, for now. Where will Washington and the Security Council go from here?
Guests:
James Bone, United Nations correspondent for the Times of London
Graham Allison, Director of the Belfer Center for [...]