What was life really like in the Holy Land of the biblical era and what were the actual and mostly overlooked roles of women? We’ll spend this hour with noted biblical scholar, archeologist and Duke University professor Dr. Carol Meyers, who will deliver tonight’s 13th annual Gates of Chai Lectureship in Contemporary Judaism, sponsored by TCU’s Brite Divinity School.
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How has Latin America manage to successfully weather the economic storms of the last few years and will the countries south of the U.S.-Mexico border emerge as leaders in the future? We’ll talk this hour with Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, author of the new book “What if Latin America Ruled the World?: How the South Will Take the North Through the 21st Century” (Bloomsbury Press, 2010).
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What economic and political issues are important in your community and how does your town compare to others in North Texas? As part of KERA’s Your Town, Texas Series, we’ll get the perspective of three regional leaders this hour. Our guests will be Mayor Glenn Barham of Wichita Falls, Mayor Rickie Pratt of Granbury and Mayor Carl Sherman of DeSoto.
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Are environmentally conscious materials and building techniques practical for making the average home more efficient? In this encore presentation, we discuss sustainability in residential housing design with Gary Cunningham, Founder and President of Cunningham Architects, and Don Gatzke, Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Arlington. In the Art&Seek segment, we’ll talk with artist James Magee, whose handmade, ongoing project “The Hill” is an art and architectural installation in the desert near El Paso. An exhibition of Magee’s medium to large-scale relief sculptures, “Revelation: The Art of James Magee,” runs through November 28th at the Nasher Sculpture Center.
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It’s true that guns are everywhere in the world, but which one single weapon has played the most influential role in revolution, terrorism and geo-political strife? According to our guest this hour, Pulitzer Prize-winner C.J. Chivers, it’s the AK-47. We’ll talk with him about his intriguing new history “The Gun” (Simon & Schuster, 2010).
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How did a working-class English lad evolve into an Oscar-winning filmmaker? We’ll talk this hour with Danny Boyle, director of “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Trainspotting,” and the upcoming “127 Hours,” which opens next month at the Angelika Film Centers in Dallas and Plano.
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Where do you get your morning cup of coffee and how did we all start drinking the stuff in the first place? We’ll talk this hour with writer Mark Pendergrast whose recent book “Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World” (Basic Books, Paperback, 2010) is now out in paperback.
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What is the purpose of human-built intelligence and will artificial life be a reality in our lifetimes? We’ll talk this hour with Edinburgh University chair of logic and metaphysics Andy Clark who’ll deliver the UTD Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology Lecture on “Natural-born Cyborgs” tonight.
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Although no segment of society is a monolith, many African-American leaders are wondering what has happened to their once-united community. We’ll talk this hour with Pulitzer Prize-winner Eugene Robinson, whose new book is “Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America” (Doubleday, 2010).
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We all know the adage about necessity being the mother of invention, but are there ways to increase the occurrence of our collective eureka moments? We’ll examine the phenomenon of innovation this hour with Steven Johnson, author of “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation” (Riverhead Books, 2010). He speaks to Arts & Letters Live at the Dallas Museum of Art this evening.
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How do those that heal manage their own illnesses? We’ll talk this hour with Dr. Mark Vonnugut, who made it through medical school and became a successful pediatrician in spite of the mental health challenges that he faced. His new memoir is “Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So” (Delacorte Press, 2010).
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Do smart kids grow up to be smart adults or just smart alecks? We’ll spend this hour with journalist and writer Mark Oppenheimer, who’ll accept the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture’s Hiett Prize in the Humanities tomorrow. His latest book is “Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate” (Free Press, 2010).
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