A professor of psychology at Harvard, Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist and a writer on language, mind, and human nature. His most recent book is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, a title that all but begs some wiseguy interviewer to take a swing at him. He famously defended Larry … Continue reading »
Monthly Archives: June 2013
Episode 28: Al Jaffee
Cartoonist Al Jaffee is the creator of the Mad Magazine Fold-In and Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions. He waas 92 when recorded this conversation, the magazine’s longest-running contributor, partly explained by his remark, “Serious people my age are dead.” PERSON: Harvey Kurtzman PLACE: The Muthaiga Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya THING: A MAD fold-in Continue reading »
Episode 27: Eric Foner
Historian Eric Foner is particularly admired for his writing on reconstruction. His most recent book, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, won pretty much every prize going including the Pulitzer and a—can this be right?—Cy Young Award. Probably a typo. He is our only guest to have written for robots, revising the scripts … Continue reading »
Comedy / Movies / Television
Episode 26: Rachel Dratch
Rachel Dratch isn’t just from Massachusetts, she is the voice of Massachusetts, at least for fans of Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006. These days, she appears often on Inside Amy Schumer and Broad City. This episode, recorded in 2013, was posted as a podcast but never broadcasted. Here it is, recut and … Continue reading »