Story in the Public Square

The saying goes that mothers and motherhood are the same all the world-over. Abigail Leonard puts that folk-wisdom to the test in a new book chronicling the first year of motherhood for four women from four different countries.    Leonard is an award-winning international reporter and news producer, previously based in Tokyo, where she was a frequent contributor to NPR, Time Ma...

Throughout the campaign of 2024, President Donald Trump promised to use tariffs to reset America’s global trade relationships, revitalize American manufacturing, and increase government revenues—and in the first months of his second administration, the president has used tariffs and the threat of tariffs to drive concessions even while raising antagonism and roiling markets. Kimberly C...

Eighty years ago, mothers with sons and husbands at war in Europe could celebrate the end of the war there, even as they worried about the possibility their loved ones might be heading to the invasion of Japan. Tim Gray has made his life’s work about telling the stories of those heroes, their sacrifices, and their legacy.    Gray is a documentary filmmaker and founder and pres...

Most of us can probably point to examples of people who suffered from racism, or who overcame racism.  But Keon West reminds us all that “the plural of anecdote is not data” and that science actually has a lot to say about the reality of racism today—if we take the time to consider it and really understand.    West is a social psychologist and an Associate Professo...

We’re used to thinking of technology as politically neutral—the zeroes and ones of binary code that operate independently of partisanship.  But Marietje Schaake says that, increasingly, private technology companies are usurping the function of government and thereby posing a real threat to the health of Western democracies.  Schaake is a non-resident Fellow at Stanford’...

Every year, American popular culture focuses on recognizing the entertainment world’s hits and misses in Awards Season. Daniel D’Addario gives us a well-informed, if fictional, glimpse behind the smiles and glittering ceremonies to understand the personal and professional commitment of actresses at the top of their games.    D’Addario is chief correspondent at “Va...

From the story of a young sex worker to one about an aging star, another about a transgender drug lord, and another about a troubled immigrant and brilliant architect, this year’s Academy Award nominees for Best Picture tell stories that are both epic and intimate. Pete Hammond walks us through the nominees and what to watch for on Hollywood’s Night of Nights.    Hammond, wid...

There was a time in American public life when “the news” was a nightly ritual, a 30-minute glimpse into the wider-world, a way to stay informed.  But Dr. Alice E. Marwick says that world is long gone, washed away in recent years with failing traditional news outlets and the rise of social media influencers.   Marwick is the director of research at Data & Society. She...

Children’s and young-adult authors often explore the pain and loneliness of growing up.  Padma Venkatraman does it in an elegantly told story that also explores immigration, environmental change, and the power of friends to make everything better.    Venkatraman is an award-winning author who was born in Chennai, India.  Before becoming a novelist, earned a Ph. D. in...

The world will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II later this year.  Richard J. Evans helps us understand the murderous leaders of Nazi Germany, and the people at every level of German society who did their bidding. Evans is an historian of modern Germany and modern Europe and is the preeminent historian of the Third Reich today.  He has published over 20 books in t...

So many of us are curious about the stuff of space and time and the forces that bind us all together.  Author and physicist Sean Caroll wants to encourage that curiosity, and believes physics can be accessible to everyone.   Carroll is the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy, a joint appointment between physics and philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty...

Climate change has been part of the public lexicon for decades, now.  But what once seemed like some dystopian, distant future is, according to Jeff Goodell, a reality—where higher temperatures are reshaping agriculture, animal migrations, the health of the oceans, and our futures.   Goodell is a bestselling author and has written seven books including “The Water Will Co...

From the joyous streets of Paris and the opening of the Olympic Games to the snap of gunfire at a presidential campaign rally, 2024 has seen its highs and lows. Evelyn Farkas helps us unpack the stories that defined 2024 and name our story of the year.    Farkas is a highly respected expert in American foreign policy and geopolitics, particularly known for her insights into U.S.-Rus...

America’s wars have produced a legion of heroes.  But historian Ronald C. White focuses us on the story of Maine’s Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a Civil War lion whose service in war and in peace still resonates today. White is the author of two New York Times bestselling biographies, “A. Lincoln: A Biography,” and “American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant,” which won the William Henry Seward A...

Survey after survey shows that local media is the most trusted media in the United States today. Tiziana Dearing transformed a successful career in advocacy, philanthropy, and the academy into the morning voice of news and information in one of America’s great cities.  Dearing is the host of WBUR’s “Morning Edition .”  Prior to helping listeners start the morning with news from around the corner a...

Survey after survey shows that local media is the most trusted media in the United States today. Tiziana Dearing transformed a successful career in advocacy, philanthropy, and the academy into the morning voice of news and information in one of America’s great cities.  Dearing is the host of WBUR’s “Morning Edition .”  Prior to helping listeners start the morning with news from around the corner a...

Across human history, we have looked to the heavens and seen things that didn’t make sense. Greg Eghigian chronicles how those human experiences were translated by believers, skeptics, investigators and hoaxers in the aftermath of the Second World War into the UFO phenomenon we still talk about today.    Eghigian is a historian of the human sciences and medicine as well as modern Europe. He earned...

When many of us think about animal rescue, we think about abandoned pets looking for a new home. But Carol Mithers chronicles the work of one woman in Los Angeles who challenges us all to understand that animal and human suffering are connected. Mithers is writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, L.A. Weekly, Smithsonian, O, the Oprah Magazine, Arch...

Shakespeare called death “the undiscovered country.”  Luke Lorentzen documents the work of spiritual guides, also known as hospital chaplains, as they help patients navigate this country and the next.   Lorentzen is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and a lecturer in Stanford University’s Department of Art and Art History. His latest film, “A Still Small Voice,” follows a chaplain during...

The most 2024 story would have to involve the Olympics, presidential politics, and Taylor Swift. Joanna Weiss unpacks the recent convergence of those cultural phenomena and what they portend for American politics.   Weiss a Boston-based writer and editor. She is executive director of the AI Literacy Lab at Northeastern University, a project to connect journalists and technologists. Weiss is a form...

Since 2016, the presence of foreign disinformation in American politics—and especially on our social media platforms—has been well documented. But Darren Linvill says different state-actors—like Russia and China—behave differently online, depending on their goals. Darren Linvill is a professor of communication whose research explores social media disinformation and its influence on civil discourse...

The data tells us that every minute of every day, 20 people are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Ashley Bendiksen has turned her personal experience with domestic abuse into a calling to prevent domestic violence and help victims.   Bendiksen is an author, domestic abuse survivor, speaker, and an award-winning activist. She also graduated from Salve Regina University...

Lies and disinformation are as old as humanity itself.  But Steven Brill argues that the witches brew of 30-year-old legislative consequences; mixed with technological innovation; and bad actors threaten the lives of democratic institutions and truth itself.   Brill is an award-winning journalist, author, and the founder of Court TV, The American Lawyer Magazine, American Lawyer Media, Brill’s Con...

It may be a scarcity mindset that views plenty as better than a world where nations and people compete over limited, scarce resources.  But Francis Gavin explains that even in a world of plenty, there are vexing international challenges for which the United States is not prepared.   Gavin is the Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and the inaugural director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center fo...

The shear amount of media generated and consumed in the United States every day is simply staggering.  Eric Deggans reminds us that the stories we tell, tell us something about ourselves—whether those stories are about music, or politics, or race. Deggans is NPR’s first full-time TV critic and media analyst, providing reviews, feature stories, commentary and guest hosting services for the network’...