Roundup

Schama talks about the power, indeed the point, of art [audio 45min]

Simon Schama talks to Susan Hitch about his BBC2 TV series Power of Art, in which he considers the stories behind eight masterpieces, from Caravaggio's David with the Head of Goliath to Picasso's Guernica.

Eisenhower, NATO responsible for failure of 1956 Hungarian revolution [video 86min]

In marking the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution, the Embassy of Hungary hosted a presentation by Professor Charles Gati on his new book, Failed Illusions: Moscow, Washington, Budapest, and the 1956 Hungarian Revolt. Gati details the 1956 Hungarian revolution and the international political environment at the time. He argues that Hungary's suppression by the USSR was a key event in the Cold War and suggests that the revolution could have succeeded if NATO and president Eisenhow

Cultural landmarks tied to population marks [audio 2min]

A quick pop-culture survey of what was going on when the U.S. population hit 100 million in 1915 and 200 million in 1967: what people were reading, what they were listening to, what they were naming their babies, etc. We'll hear samples of what constituted a hit in those years, plus today's No. 1 single in the United States.

Dizzy Gillespie's Cold War jazz diplomacy [audio 5min]

Official diplomacy is one time-tested way to ease tensions between countries. But, as John Birks Gillespie proved two generations ago, American jazz and "cultural outreach" can go a long way, too. Fifty years ago, in the midst of the Cold War, the U.S. government dispatched a high-level emissary to ease tensions during a nuclear crisis: a jazz trumpeter known to most of the world as Dizzy. Gillespie and his band went overseas in the name of cultural diplomacy. Last week, the University

Dfference between girlhood and boyhood pronounced throughout history of childhood [audio 15min]

"Invention of Childhood" is major 30-part narrative history series exploring British childhood and the experience of British children over the last thousand years, with one 15-minute programme each weekday from Mon 25th Sept for 6 weeks. Each programme may be streamed online for 7 days after broadcast. Week Four -- 16 to 20 Oct: Children in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries. Episode 16: How I Wish I Were a Boy. In the 19th century, the growth of a peculiarly British institution --

Dorothy Parker, political radical [audio 9min]

Dorothy Parker was an American writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. But she was also a human rights activist, and this week a one-woman play has opened at the London's New End Theatre, Hamstead, exploring her political activities in her later life. Pandora Colin, the actress playing Dorothy, and Philip McGowan, a senior lecturer in American literature currently writing a biography, join Sheila McClennon to talk about this rela

Schama, Saumarez Smith, Uglow & Hennessy discuss art, 1950s [45min]

"Start the Week" sets the cultural agenda every Monday. Guests are drawn from the top movers and shakers in politics, history, science and the arts. This week's guests, historian Simon Schama, gallery director Charles Saumarez Smith, biographer Jenny Uglow and historian Peter Hennessy, discuss great works of art and Britain in the 1950s. Following the huge success of A History of Britain, Schama is back with a new series, Power of Art, tracing the evolution of eight great works of

What should college teach? [audio 52min]

Harvard University has published a new plan to revamp its" core" general education requirements. Harvard’s long been looked to as a kind of leader in defining what colleges should be teaching -- and so it made us wonder: What should students be learning today, in 2006? What do they need to know these days in order to function as happy, engaged adults? Guests: Susan Gallagher, Professor of political science, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Martha Nussbaum, Professor of law and ethics, Univers

Pop Culture: Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits

1956: A crisis in Hungary, and elsewhere [audio 3min]

News Analysis by Daniel Schorr. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Hungary's short-lived uprising against the Soviet Union. It came amid turmoil in the Middle East, and a look back reveals how much the present has in common with the past.

Nation of Islam's impact on American politics, past and present [audio 5min]

What is the Nation of Islam's impact on American politics, past and present? University of Maryland political science professor Ron Walters and the Rev. Joseph Watkins -- of the government relations group Buchanan, Ingersoll and Rooney -- discuss the issue with Juan Williams.

Turkish writer wins 2006 Nobel Literature Prize [audio 2min]

The winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature is Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. He's best known in this country for his novels My Name Is Red and Snow. Orhan Pamuk was already an internationally acclaimed writer when his government accused him of"insulting Turkishness.""I just made a statement about one of our great taboos: what happened to the Ottoman Empire's Armenians in 1915," Pamuk told NPR in 2005."This is a taboo we still cannot discuss." A seemingly offhand comment the auth

Diet of Worms: Luther's stand against the Church [audio 45min]

Nestled on a bend of the River Rhine, in the South West corner of Germany, is the City of Worms. It’s one of the oldest cities in central Europe; it still has its early city walls, its 11th century Romanesque cathedral and a 500-year-old printing industry, but in its centre is a statue of the monk, heretic and founder of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther. In 1521 Luther came to Worms to explain his attacks on the Catholic Church to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and the gathered dign

Armenian Genocide debated by French Parliament [8min @00:18]

This week French MPs are debating a controversial new law that would make it a crime to deny that Turkey committed genocide against Armenians in 1915. Turkey strenuously denies a genocide occured. That country's foreign minister has threatened immediate economic sanctions against France should it push ahead with the bill. Of course, this debate occurs in the context of Turkey's application to join the EU and of France's role as a gatekeeper for EU membership. Dominique Moisee is a long time Fren

Apollo Theater, where virtually every African American artist has performed [audio 23min]

It's the place where Lauryn Hill, Michael Jackson and Luther Vandross all started out. Been in a talent contest? Harlem's Apollo Theatre Amateur Night has been the mecca for aspiring performers since it opened 75 years ago. Hip hop legend Kurtis Blow tells the story of the Apollo where virtually every black American entertainer has performed. Dipset's Jim Jones, Raheim, James Brown and Run tell us why the Apollo's been so important to black music history.

Marina Warner's research teems with extraordinary life [audio 45min]

Novelist, critic and cultural historian Marina Warner talks to Matthew Sweet about a life spent in the company of magic, myths and monsters.

"Coming Out" was female rite of passage for English upper classes [audio 8min]

50 years ago, when you talked about coming out and queens in the same sentence, it meant something quite different from what it does today."Coming Out" was a female rite of passage for the English upper classes, which involved going to Buckingham Palace to curtsey to the Queen. It marked the emergence of the virgin out of the schoolroom and into society at the marriageable age of 17. In 1958, after 200 years, the last of the debutantes made that journey. Fiona MacCarthy took part in this final r

Internet as archive, if you have the time [audio 3min]

Commentator Paul Ford says that he used to think that the Internet would make everyone a historian -- but he doesn't think so any more. Ford, an editor at Harper's magazine, is the author of the novel Gary Benchley, Rock Star.

Averroes: The battle between faith and reason [audio 45min]

In The Divine Comedy Dante subjected all the sinners in Christendom to a series of grisly punishments, from being buried alive to being frozen in ice. The deeper you go, the more brutal and bizarre the punishments get, but the uppermost level of Hell is populated not with the mildest of Christian sinners, but with non-Christian writers and philosophers. It was the highest compliment Dante could pay to pagan thinkers in a Christian cosmos and, in Canto 4, he names them all. Aristotle is th