Roundup

Spinoza offers lessons 350 years after excommunication [audio 6min]

Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza was only 23 years old when he was excommunicated from the Spanish-Portugese Jewish community of Amsterdam. That was 350 years ago, but author Rebecca Newberger Goldstein says that his thoughts are still important today. Report by Debbie Elliott.

Writer offers 'complete guide' to pirates [audio 5min]

Pirates are as popular as ever this summer, from the big screen to the Happy Meal box. The love affair with swashbucklers began long ago. But many myths surround Blackbeard and his fellow travelers on the high seas. How much do we really know about pirates, after all? Gail Selinger, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pirates, offers her insights on what's fact and what goes a bit overboard.

Florida law stirs debate over teaching history [audio 5min]

In Florida, educators disagree over a new state law on how history is taught. Some fear an emphasis on teaching "just the facts" will discourage discussions of controversial events. Report by Greg Allen.

'Black Rodeo' teaches history lesson [audio 6min]

The Bill Pickett Invitational touts itself as the only black rodeo touring the U.S. Rodeo-goers see more than bucking broncos and cowboys roping longhorns. They get a history lesson too. Report by Brakkton Booker.

'WPA Guides' put artists to work [audio 55min]

The Book Guys -- book appraiser Allan Stypeck and Washington DC radio host Mike Cuthbert -- interview Jean and Carol Fitzgerald and John Cole about the WPA Guides series -- books about states, cities and locations in the USA published during the FDR administration in an attempt to put artists back to work.

Smithsonian exhibit revists 19c back-to-school days [audio 7min]

As summer dwindles away and back-to-school time approaches, an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum looks at life around the schoolhouse in the 19th century. The exhibit -- called American ABC -- includes The New Scholar, an 1845 painting by Frances William Edmonds. It shows a scared little boy being pushed by his mother toward the schoolmaster. The boy is right to be afraid -- the schoolmaster is holding a hickory switch behind his back. This painting is part of an ongo

Wright examines formation of al-Qaida [audio 41min]

Lawrence Wright, a writer for The New Yorker, talks about his new book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Wright's work is based on more than 500 interviews, some with friends and relatives of Osama bin Laden, and examines the circumstances that led to the formation of al-Qaida. The New York Times Book Review said of The Looming Tower,"The portrait of John O’Neill, the driven, demon-ridden F.B.I. agent who worked so frantically to stop Osama bin Laden,

Korea, China angry with Japan PM's visit to Yasukuni Shrine [audio 4min]

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of World War II's end. The shrine honors many who participated in the war, including a number of convicted war criminals. Koizumi's visits to the shrine have been greeted by protests from Korea and China, countries invaded by Japan. ~Website offers analysis by Madhulika Sikka, supervising senior producer for "Morning Edition."

Goddess Durga kills demon Mahisha in British Museum [audio 12min]

This week work begins to create a giant image of the Hindu goddess Durga in the Great Court of the British Museum. Visitors will be able to watch as master craftsmen from Krishnanagar, India, create an imposing image of the goddess Durga shown vanquishing the buffalo-headed demon Mahisha. Every year, Hindu Bengali communities worldwide make similar sculptures for the Durga Puja festival, the most important event in their social an

Scotland's Isle of Lewis is steeped in history [audio 25min]

In "Past Lives", Mark Stephen sets out across Scotland to answer your historical questions. Mark is back for a new series on the intriguing tales from Scotland’s past. He sets out across Scotland to answer your questions about the country's past -- from Wick to Dumfries and Vikings to Mods, his curiosity knows no bounds. This week, Mark sets off for the Isle of Lewis.

Germans shocked by Guenter Grass's SS past [audio 4min]

Germany's Nobel prize-winning author Grass has spent his career dissecting the human experience of World War II and his country's Nazi heritage. So his countrymen are shocked by an interview in which Grass says he served in the Waffen SS -- Adolf Hitler's elite Nazi troops.

New memoir describes Elvis friendship [audio 24min]

Elvis Presley confidant Jerry Schilling talks about his new book, Me and a Guy Named Elvis: My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley. When Schilling was 12 years old, he met the teenaged Elvis Presley at a north Memphis pickup football game. As Presley rose to fame, Schilling joined him on the rise, eventually becoming creative affairs director for Elvis Presley Enterprises.

Book examines racism amid Red Scare [audio 7min]

Historian Gerald Horne talks with NPR's Farai Chideya about the life of blacklisted screenwriter John Howard Lawson. Horne is author of The Final Victim of the Blacklist: John Howard Lawson, Dean of the Hollywood Ten, about Lawson, who wrote the early anti-apartheid film Cry The Beloved Country under a pseudonym.

EU began as European Coal and Steel Community [audio 30min]

BBC News special correspondent Allan Little looks at how the European Union was created, from the devastation of World War Two to its current incarnation as a new kind of superpower. Focusing on key moments along the journey, he analyses Britain's contradictory relationship with 'Europe'. In Programme 1,"Never Again", Little says that, although today's European Union seems to be all about vetoes and subsidies, nothing could have been further from the minds of its early founders. They embarked on

Feds, Mormons denied radiation sickness downwind of 1950s Nevada nuclear tests [audio 29min]

In the early 1950s, life was peaceful in the almost exclusively Mormon community in the small town of St. George, Utah. But then, radiation linked illnesses began to appear. Families lost mothers and husbands, children died. St. George and its people were the victims of radioactive dust, drifting over from atmospheric atomic tests, carried out in the Nevada desert. Only in recent years has the government acknowledged weapons testing as the likely cause of killing or sickening civi

Britain's late entry into EU had future consequences [audio 30min]

BBC News special correspondent Allan Little looks at how the European Union was created, from the devastation of World War Two to its current incarnation as a new kind of superpower. Focusing on key moments along the journey, he analyses Britain's contradictory relationship with 'Europe'. In Programme 2, "Tell Them I'm Occupied with Cyprus", Little charts Britain's ambiguity towards the process of European integration, first hesitating on the sidelines, then wanting to be 'in'. Initial

WAAF veteran publishes diaries of WWII service [audio 8min]

Joan Rice -- mother of Sir Tim Rice -- says her ambitions at age 20 were not those of her 1930s contemporaries: she wanted to write and to travel, to experience adventure. So when World War II was declared she left her typing job and enrolled immediately in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. She tells presenter Jenni Murray about her newly-published diaries, Sand in My Shoes: War-time Diaries of a WAAF (Harper Press), which give us a glimpse into her world of bombing raids, an exciting post

Happy Birthday, Dear Mayo -- We hold you dear [audio 4min]

Without Gen. Louis-Francois-Armand du Plessy, Duc de Richelieu, we might not have tuna salad. Or cole slaw. Or a proper BLT. All share a common element: mayonnaise. And while theories on the origins of mayo differ, the most common has the condiment celebrating its 250th birthday this summer. After Richelieu's troops took the island of Minorca from the British in June 1756, his personal chef celebrated by creating a feast -- and a new sauce named for Richelieu's point of attack: the island port o

Kenneth Walsh observes POTUS in retreat [audio 9min]

Being president of the United States is no easy job. And when it comes time to get away from it all, the president can't just load his family into a mini-van and drive out to a public beach or go camping in the woods, and not just because it would drive the Secret Service crazy. Instead U.S. presidents have needed more secluded getaways, such as Warm Springs, Ga., San Clemente, Calif., Kennebunkport, Maine, the old weekend standby Camp David in Maryland -- or President Bush's ranch in Crawford,

Psychologist James sought proof of afterlife [audio 30min]

Science writer Deborah Blum talks about her biography of the distinguished psychologist William James, the brother of novelist Henry James. The book, Ghosthunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death, details his work trying to prove the existence of the afterlife. Blum is professor of science journalism, University of Wisconsin.