John James Audubon was rumored to be the Dauphin of France who would have succeeded to the French throne but for the revolution. Wrong. But of course he invented and perfected the new art of bird portraiture and lived a life full of adventure and invention. Rhodes, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, did a great biography of Audubon and gave us this great discussion in 2005 before we went on to discuss his totally different preceding book about the Nazi killing squads.

Drawing upon all the available evidence Steven Greenblatt, professor of English at Harvard and Shakespeare scholar, paints a vivid picture of “Will in his world” and provides revealing commentary on the nature of his genius. We also present many recorded scenes from some of the great plays.

Michael York went from Shakespeare to “Cabaret”and “Austin Powers” and back again to Shakespeare. This discussion from the late ’90s attempts to define the nature of the actor’s art and to show how it can be mastered.

The broadcasters, stations, talent, programs and sponsors of early radio – with lots of illustrative sound clips, and beginning with the coverage of the national election of 1920!

Daniel Aron of Harvard started this great enterprise and here, in a 1996 conversation, he is joined by three of his colleagues in a scholarly but vivid discussion of such contributors to the “canon” as Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dreiser, Hemingway and a dozen others along the route.