Thinking Aloud

Writer Andrew Lawler speaks with Marcus Smith about the enduring mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, one of America's oldest legends. 

Philosopher Christian Miller discusses the nature of character with Marcus Smith. 

Cartoonist Ken Krimstein delves into his comic biography about philosopher Hannah Arendt. 

Lars Gert Lose, the ambassador from Denmark to the United States, discusses Denmark's social and economic relationship to the United States and the future of the alliance between the EU and the US. 

Writer Fiona Sampson speaks about Mary Shelley's life of loss and love and the gender inequity Shelley faced as the woman who wrote "Frankenstein." 

Heather Curtis tells the story of a newspaper that gave birth to the ways in which we think about humanitarianism. Dr. Curtis is an Associate Professor of Religion at Tufts University. She is the author of two book and served as the senior editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Religion in America. Among other awards, she has received grants from the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals and the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University. 

Amanda Lotz, renowned media analyst and Professor of Media Studies at the University of Michigan, rolls through the history of television and offers some predictions as to its future. Professor Lotz has authored and coauthored a number of books, most recently We Now Disrupt this Broadcast: How Cable Transformed Television and the Internet Revolutionized It All.

Anna Zeide walks Marcus Smith through the history of the canning industry and tells the story of how consumers came to trust in food that came from a little opque can. 

Guest Katherine Benton-Cohen visits with Marcus Smith about the Dillingham Commission and how its legacy is affecting U.S. immigration law today. 

Marcus talks about surprise with Dr. Vera Tobin: how it salts our stories, sometimes to great effect, sometimes leaving a bitter taste in our mouths. Vera Tobin is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at Case Western University. Before that, she taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara. 

Samuel Moyn, professor of law and history at Yale, discusses the relationship between the push for human rights and growing economic inequality. He argues that we won't be able to secure global human rights without first addressing the bigger problem of material inequality. 

Marcus and Phil Windley dissect Blockchain: what is it, how does it already affect the infrastructure of our lives, and what will it become? Phil Windley works as an adjunct professor and Enterprise Architect for BYU. Prior to that he worked for two years under Utah Governor Mike Leavitt as Cheif Information Officer.

Paleontologist Stephen Brusatte joins Marcus Smith for a lively conversation about the history of dinosaurs. 

Marcus talks the ecological side of bedtime stories with Liam Heneghan. Dr. Heneghan is a professor of environmental science at DePaul University where he serves as co-director of the university's Institute for Nature and Culture.

BYU linguistics professor Alan Manning joins guest host Lisa Valentine Clark to discuss his research into evidence pointing to a Mormon girlfriend in Mark Twain's past. 

Americans love a good pageant, or at least we used to. Just how pertinent are these pageants today? From the first Thanksgiving to the Super Bowl half-time show, we enjoy large, grand, celebratory events. We're discussing the history behind our proclivity for pageantry with Megan Sanborn-Jones, coordinator fornbsp; Theatre Arts studies program.

Brian Regal and Frank Esposito from Kean University explore the genesis of one of America's oldest monster legends: the Jersey Devil. It's a tale that has less to do with a winged beast and more to do with colonial Quaker infighting, pamphlet wars, publicity stunts, and the absolute villainization of a man who just wanted to bring the Enlightenment to the New World.

Stanford history professor Priya Satia discusses how war, imperialism, and Britian's thriving gun trade acted as the real engine of the Industrial Revolution.

Joseph Crespino, the Jimmy Carter Professor of History at Emory University, traces the origins and evolution of Atticus Finch, the iconic patriarch from Harper Lee's 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird. Crespino won both the 2008 Lillian Smith Book Award and 2007 McLemore Prize for his book In Search of Another Country and is also author to the book Strom Thurmond's America. 

Randall Stephens, professor of history and American studies, traces the history of Christian rock from its beginning as "the devil's music" to a billion dollar industry. Stephens is the author of The Devil's Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock 'n' Roll.