In 367 AD, a directive from the newly organized Catholic Church listed 27 books that would go on to form the New Testament. All other so-called “apocryphal” or “gnostic” accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus were to be destroyed. But some were secretly preserved, buried in the soil of upper Egypt. [...]

Since its inception in 1925, The New Yorker magazine has cultivated millions of devotees far beyond the island of Manhattan. Weekly helpings of journalism, fiction, humor and criticism unfold and delight behind the imaginative, and sometimes keepsake covers. In 1999, The New Yorker Festival made a jump from the printed page to public venues throughout [...]

Forty years ago, legendary country singer Patsy Cline died at the age of 30 when her small plane went down on a flight to Nashville, Tennessee. She sang some of the greatest songs in American pop history: “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy,” and “Walkin’ After Midnight.”
Twenty years later, a young singer from Alberta, Canada, came [...]

Since its inception in 1925, The New Yorker magazine has cultivated millions of devotees far beyond the island of Manhattan. Weekly helpings of journalism, fiction, humor and criticism unfold and delight behind the imaginative, and sometimes keepsake covers. In 1999, the magazine made a jump from the printed page to public venues for the first [...]

On Thanksgiving day, Americans look forward to platefuls of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pecan pie. They also look forward to catching up with family members, relatives and friends.
This Thanksgiving finds 130,000 American troops deployed in Iraq. That means that 130,000 American families will celebrate Thanksgiving without a father, son, brother or sister, as [...]

As Thanksgiving approaches, retailers and manufacturers are preparing for a feast of their own. But in order to spend, shoppers need jobs and money, credit and confidence.
Recent economic reports have pointed to an upturn in the economy but many consumers are still burdened with too much debt. Consumers drive the economy and their spending habits [...]

Bill Toland is going to lots of weddings and he’s none too pleased. In this Radio Diary, this 26-year old laments on what happens to friendships after his pals say “I do.”
Guests:
Bill Toland

You can take it with you after all. New rules are in effect that allow you to switch your phone carrier and keep your phone number. Dialing digits “on the go” is now how America works and plays. Staying in touch has never been easier, but it comes with hard choices about how Americans live [...]

As terror attacks on soft targets increase, Al Qaeda is blamed. But does Al Qaeda organize these attacks? Or has the original target of the war on terror inspired copycats? What ideology does the original al Qaeda share with its descendants?
Click the “Listen” link to hear some of the answers.
Guests:
Jason Burke, author of “Al Qaeda: [...]

As a $400 billion Medicare bill makes its way through Congress, opponents of the bill in the Senate are scrambling to find the votes for a filibuster.
There are two major sticking points at issue. The first is a provision preventing the government from leveraging its prescription drug buying power to bargain for lower prices. The [...]

While there has been little first-hand reporting from Saudi Arabia, this fall Senior Correspondent for WBUR’s Inside Out Documentaries, Michael Goldfarb, traveled throughout the country to gauge what changes are going on and why they matter.
Goldfarb provides a window into a country of great strategic importance that is at a crossroads and, very possibly, at [...]

President Bush in England. The arrest of Michael Jackson. Two bombings in Instanbul. Tom Ashbrook and On Point’s News Analyst Jack Beatty look back at the week in news.
Guests:
Tom Ashbrook, host of On Point and Jack Beatty, On Point News Analyst

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle is at the center of the divisive debates over the energy and Medicare bills in Congress. He supports the Republican-backed energy bill that gives $13 billion in tax breaks to oil, gas and coal companies and doubles ethanol production by 2012, which would pour money into his rural [...]

With the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy approaching, On Point’s audio archeologist Ned Connors looks back at Kennedy’s remarkable political life and brings the story of JFK impersonator, Vaughn Meter.
Guests:
Ned Connors, On Point’s Audio Archeologist

Forty years after his assassination, the nation is still fascinated by President John F. Kennedy. One of the big “what-if” questions posed by Kennedy scholars is what might have happened in Vietnam had he not been killed.
Professor James Galbraith argues that Kennedy had decided to withdraw from Vietnam by 1965, victory or not. But after [...]

Twin blasts ripped through British targets in Istanbul, Turkey today. Owen Matthews, Istanbul correspondent for Newsweek, reports on the latest from the devastated city.
Guests:
Owen Matthews, Istanbul reporter, Newsweek

Two massive suicide truck bombs ripped through Turkey’s largest city today, killing 27 and injuring at least 450. The blasts threw a sad shadow over the second day of President Bush’s state visit to London. But they did not stop an estimated 100,000 protesters from marching across London and pulling down an effigy of [...]

Tonight, winners of the National Book Award will be announced in New York. Among the nominees is Edward P. Jones. His first novel “The Known World” is perhaps the most unusual book about slavery ever written. It is based on the little known fact that before the Civil War, some freed blacks owned [...]

There is a natural tension between our love of a bargain and the belief in a living wage. Buying a year supply of pickles for under three dollars is a bargain but the real price may be a living wage for working class Americans. Americans have become used to paying rock bottom prices for goods [...]

Who’s really winning the war in Iraq? We’ll cut away the posturing for a tough analysis.
Guests:
Michael Ware, correspondent, TIME Magazine
Lawrence Korb, senior fellow, Center for American Progress and Assistant Secretary of Defense under Reagan (1981 to 1985)
Fred Kagan, military historian and co-author, “While America Sleeps: Self-Delusion, Military Weakness, and the Threat to Peace”

A 30-billion dollar energy bill is now in the Senate. Gail Chaddock, Congressional reporter with the Christian Science Monitor has the latest developments from Capitol Hill.
Guests:
Gail Chaddock, covers Congress for the Christian Science Monitor

In his forthcoming book, excerpted in November’s Harper’s Magazine, critic Ben DeMott lambastes trends in junk politics. Our political language is changing, he argues, to newspeak that plays up similarities, minimizes differences, and addresses few important issues.
If the trend continues, DeMott argues, we are in danger of losing touch with our basic democratic ideals. Tonight, [...]

Massachusetts’ highest court ruled today that gay marriage is permitted under the state’s constitution, but stopped short of allowing licenses to be issued to the seven couples who filed the lawsuit. Massachusetts’ legislature has 180 days to decide whether the state will become the first to legalize gay marriage.
Guests:
Fred Thys, he followed the court [...]

Guests:

A contrite Rush Limbaugh is back on the airwaves after seeking treatment for prescription drug addiction. We hear excerpts from his opening remarks.
Guests:
Rush Limbaugh, syndicated radio host

Arnold Schwarnegger was sworn in today as California’s governor in front of seven thousand invited guests, including Hollywood stars and every living former governor of California.
Guests:
Tim Grieve, politics reporter for Salon.com

Georgia Senator and life-long Democrat Zell Miller said he’s backing George W. Bush for president. In his new book, “A National Party no More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat” he warns the Democratic party that it can’t treat the South as if it’s “gone with the wind” and hope to win. Tonight, [...]

The bombing of two Synagogues in Istanbul killed 23 people and injured over 300. Turkey now finds itself smack in the middle of the struggle between western democracies and Islamic fundamentalism. Questions remain as to whether the attacks were in response to Turkey’s offer of troops to the occupation of Iraq or whether in retaliation [...]

Sammy Davis Jr. grew up on the vaudeville stage and lived the highs and lows of a perpetual performer. A new biography cuts through the shuck and jive to reveal a lone black man making good in Eisenhower’s America.
Guests:
Wil Haygood, writer for the Washington Post and author of “In Black and White: The Life of [...]

Two months before Italian soldier Alfio Ragazzi died in Wednesaday’s suicide attack in Nasiriya, he sent home this letter.
Guests:
read by WBUR’s Kim Beqari

A classified CIA report warning that the conflict in Iraq is in danger of spiraling out of control has spurred the White House to accelerate its timeline for the transfer of power to the Iraqi people.
Guests:
Julian Borger, reporter for the Guardian UK

Peter Bell is President of CARE USA. It was the Cooperative for American Remittances in Europe that sent the first CARE package in 1945. Now the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, CARE provides aid in over 60 countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq. Tonight, On Point, Bell talks about CARE’s goals, CARE’s ongoing projects, and [...]

Gail Chaddock, congressional reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, discusses the U.S. Senate’s first all-nighter in nine years, as Senators debate over some of President Bush’s judicial nominees.
Guests:

Illinois resident Steve Chapman says he would like to see more places ban cell phone use. In this radio diary, he wonders about Americans’ addictions to their Motorolas.
Guests:
Steve Chapman, writer living outside Chicago

The Senate stayed up all night arguing over the blocking of presidential judicial nominations. It was the first all-nighter in the senate in nine years.
Guests:
Gale Chaddock, Congressional Reporter for The Christian Science Monitor.

For years, David Macaulay has delighted armchair architects with his beautiful drawings and precise explanations of the craft of building. His new book, “Mosque,” explores the construction of a fictional, but typical, mosque in 16th century Istanbul.
The idea for “Mosque,” was hatched before September 11, 2001, but the attacks gave new life to Macaulay’s fascination [...]

One of the soldiers charged with rooting out Iraqi insurgents is Private Roman Diaz of San Diego. Roman’s mother, Sue, has only heard sparingly from her son since his unit moved into Iraq over the summer.
But it was a phone conversation just before he moved north from Kuwait that she will never forget. [...]

America is facing a new nuclear nightmare. Americans have heard of trouble in North Korea and Iran, but this one is right here, in the U.S.
Two years after 9-11, one would think that nuclear weapons stored in places like Los Alamos would be locked down and secure. But they’re not and they could be [...]

Dexter Filkins, foreign correspondent for The New York Times, reports that in an effort to quell the mounting attacks on U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq the United States has launched operation Iron Hammer.
Guests:
Dexter Filkins, foreign correspondent for the New York Times.

He’s one of the most revered leaders in America’s Muslim communities. He was the first Muslim to lead a prayer before the start of a session of Congress. Madeleine Albright hosted him at the State House. Now, the controversial Imam speaks out on why he believes American democracy will crumble [...]

Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is taking on the Bush administration and is lobbying to oust Donald Rumsfeld from office. We talk with candidate Kucinich about his fight for the White House and the fight for the future of progressive politics in America.
Guests:
Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Democratic presidential candidate
Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst [...]

Madeleine Korbel Albright served as the U.S. Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001. Sixty-three men held the position before her. She is the only woman ever to have held the post, and the highest ranking woman in the history of the United States government.
Madeleine Albright’s tenure as Secretary of State took her and America [...]

On Veterans Day we tap the memories of particular men –fathers and their own — who fought in WWII and Vietnam. And we hear their views on the war in Iraq.
Guests:
Michael Takiff, author, “Brave Men, Gentle Heroes: American Fathers and Sons in World War II and Vietnam”
Mike Novosel, Sr., captain, United States Army Air [...]

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Studs Terkel just came out with his eleventh book of oral history, “Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times.” He brings together diverse voices — from a pardoned death row prisoner to an Iraqi immigrant — to talk about how hope led them through hardship. Tonight, On Point: [...]

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear the appeals filed on behalf of two groups of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The cases, brought on behalf of 16 non-American citizens held there, charge that the prisoners have a right to challenge their detention through American legal channels.
Guests:
Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate [...]

Riyadh is on alert after a suicide bombing over the weekend. Less than a week after the White House urged stronger democracy in the Middle East, the Saudis are under attack. A renewed hunt for Al Qaeda begins.
Can the goals of stability and individual liberty hold up the house together?
Guests:
Khaled Al-Maeena, Editor-in-Chief of the Saudi [...]